Visible Stranger
by Enula
Summary: This is a BuraYamucha ficcy! Yamucha has come back to visit the Briefs family for awhile and when Bura finds out something about Yamucha that everyone else failed to notice, can a spark light between this odd couple? COMPLETE!
1. After All These Years

**__**

Visible Stranger

I.

"You fall in love once, you fall in love twice, the last time you learn that boys aren't nice."

Bura sighed to herself as she read this little quote that was located in one of her fashion magazines. It was advertising a movie about a girl getting revenge on all the guys she knew just because one broke her heart. It almost sounded like her situation…except the movie was under the humor genre. Something hers wasn't.

Her long, straight hair was in a high ponytail with some loose strands hanging over her shoulders. She twirled one piece around her finger, something she automatically did when she went deep in thought. Subconsciously, she flipped the page to show super models dressed up in the latest fashion, also wearing too much makeup for their own good.

She had been sitting up in her room for more than two hours, just looking at nothing in particular. It was the summer time, she should be outside, running from store to store, or swimming down at the ocean, getting all the guy's attention that she possibly could. But no, she had to isolate herself from everyone just so she could sit and think about nothing except her rotten luck.

Dropping the magazine onto the soft carpeted floor, she lay back on her fluffy bed, staring up at her ceiling. She was dressed in one of her white miniskirts and blue tube top, showing off her curves perfectly…not that anyone could see at the moment.

"Is there something wrong with me? …Maybe I should change my looks," she said out loud, sitting up again and walking over to her mirror in her bare feet. She took her hair out of its ponytail and let it fall straight down. She gave a disgusted look.

"I've had the same hairstyle since I was thirteen…maybe it is time I try something new," the now eighteen year old ran her hand back through her hair, messing it up slightly to make it more frizzy.

"Possibly a perm?" she scrunched her hair up to get a slight image of what she would look like with one.

Bura sighed and let her hair fall down again before spotting someone behind her. She jumped and let out a slight scream before realizing whom it was.

"Pan, what are you doing here? No, better yet…_when _did you get here?" Bura asked, turning around and putting her hands on her hips.

The older girl laughed, dressed in her usual outfit of baggy shorts that came down to her shins, a loose shirt, her orange bandanna, and her many chains that made it perfectly clear that she was a punky girl.

"I came here about a minute ago, I thought you might've seen me, or at least heard me. Guess you were too distracted. So…!" Pan jumped on Bura's bed, bouncing slightly, "What's on your mind?"

Bura blushed, always hating when other people caught her talking to herself, "Nothing really…just thinking of some kind of makeover."

"Hmm…who dumped you this time?" Pan asked, letting herself fall out from under herself to land in a sitting position on the bed.

Doing a quick double take, a sweat drop formed on the side of Bura's head, "What are you talking about?"

Pan rolled her eyes and walked back over to her, putting an arm around her and looking up at the ceiling as if reminiscing on something, "Bura, Bura, Bura…you know exactly what I'm talking about. Come on, tell me, you know you want to."

Again, Bura sighed and grabbed another strand of hair to twirl. She looked down at the floor, "You're right…my boyfriend and I did break up. This is the second time that happened in a three-week period! Am I doing something wrong?"

Pan shrugged, "I dunno. Are you controlling?"

"No…not that I know of. If he says he wants to hang out with his friends, I let him," Bura explained, "I don't try to keep him to myself."

Pan thought some more, "Are you not controlling enough?"

"…Say what?" Bura asked, an obviously confused look upon her face.

"Ya know…does he flirt with other girls trying to get you jealous and you seem to not care because you're afraid of being controlling?" Pan sat backwards on her computer chair, resting her chin on her arms.

Bura blinked a couple of times, "Umm…"

"Or do you subconsciously flirt with other guys making him think you weren't be loyal?"

"Pan! Why do you sound like such an expert on this stuff?!" Bura screamed in frustration, throwing her arms in the air and falling back on her bed.

Pan shrugged, "Maybe it's 'cause my uncle Goten thinks up all these reasons of why Paresu keeps breaking up with him."

Hearing this, Bura's eyes got dull, "Pan…"

"Oh!" Pan quickly covered her mouth, just realizing what she said.

Bura shook her head, telling her to forget about it. She's been having this problem for the last five to six years or so. Yes, the one and only Bura Briefs had fallen in love with the one and only Son Goten. It wasn't like she wanted to, it was beyond her control. He just always hung around Capsule Corp. with her brother so she got used to him. He never did show any real interest in his best friend's little sister, but she thought that after she grew up and fully developed that he would notice her…but it never happened.

"Gomen ne, Bura…I forgot," Pan apologized with a half-hearted smile.

"It's fine…he's just not exactly the person I want to hear about right now," Bura stated before getting to her feet again, "hey, you hungry?"

A smile grew over Pan's face within an instant, "Always!"

The two girls giggled, running out of the room and down the stairs. They ran passed the living room and the hall that lead to Buruma's office, to the kitchen. Yet as soon as they entered, Bura stopped immediately, but since Pan wasn't expecting it, she ran right into the blue haired girl, sending her flying forward.

She screamed and reached out her arms to stop herself, but to her surprise, she was caught in someone's arms. Slowly, she squinted one eye open before both of her big blue eyes grew to their usual large size.

"Whoa! Talk about your bumper cars, eh?" the man that caught her said with a chuckle before setting her back down on the kitchen floor.

Bura continued to stare up at the dark haired man that seemed oddly familiar to her, yet not.

Seeing this expression, Buruma let out a laugh and went behind her daughter, running her hands through the young girl's hair, "Don't you remember who this is, Bura?"

She continued to stare before something finally clicked in her mind from seven years ago, "Yamucha?!" 

He grinned, "The one and only. And you're Bura? Wow…you really have grown up since I last saw you."

"Duh!" Pan jumped in, using Bura's shoulder as an armrest, "She was eleven the last time you saw her, hopefully she grew up."

Yamucha's eyes diverted to Pan, looking her up and down, then into her smirking face, "You sure grew up, too, Pan. You have your mother's attitude, that's for sure."

Pan stuck her tongue out, making Bura giggle and step forward, "What brings you here after all these years?"

"Hmm…" he began, looking at Buruma weirdly, "good question."

Without a word, Buruma went around the girls to him, punching him in the arm. He winced and held it, giving her a death glare, "What was that for?!"

"For being you," Buruma rolled her eyes before both of them laughed. Bura laughed also at their little flirting sessions that the two still had in them even after all these years.

Pan tilted her head to the side, "I don't get it…"

The other three stared at her for a moment before turning back to each other.

"Anyway," Yamucha continued, "I mostly came back for a little visit. It's been awhile since I seen all my old friends so…" he turned to Bura, "your mother invited me to stay here for a few weeks. I just hope your dad doesn't mind…" millions of sweat drops appeared.

Bura smirked, opening her mouth to say something about that, but that was before she saw his hair, "Whoa! Your hair's long!"

"Huh?" Yamucha looked over his shoulder then looked back, "It's been like this since…since you were born, if I recall right."

"Oh…" Bura blushed slightly, "guess I never bothered to notice before…"

That's when Pan decided to nudge Bura in the ribs, "Food…"

"Oh yeah," she said, getting reminded of what they were really down there for.

"You two can wait," Buruma ordered, pointing over her shoulder at the stove, "I'm cooking dinner right now."

Yamucha gave a disgusted look, "Umm…maybe we should eat take out."

Bura giggled and nodded, "I can agree with that. But my mom has gotten a little better."

"A little?!" Buruma yelled suddenly, her eyes narrowing, "I think I've improved quite a bit, thank you very much!"

"Your welcome, now what are you making?" Yamucha asked, earning him another punch in the arm. 

Bura smiled, "Where's Daddy?"

"Outside training with your brother…I don't think he's enjoying it too much," Buruma answered, sitting down in a chair and crossing her legs that were covered with her long dress.

"Probably not, want me to go get them?" she asked, already heading out.

Buruma nodded, "Yeah, tell them to come in and get cleaned up."

Pan followed Bura outside, Vejiita and Torankusu coming into view immediately. They were throwing small ki blasts at each other, but not ones that would cause harm to others just in case the blasts went off course. 

"You guys, dinner's almost done!" Bura yelled, feeling the cool grass on her feet.

Hearing her scream made them both go off track as their blasts flew else where, one just so happening to be heading towards Bura. She took a step back, planning on jumping out of the way at the last minute, but Pan jumped in front of her quickly and swatted it away with ease, a huge smile plastered on her lips.

"Torankusu!" she screamed before flying over to him and wrapping her arms around his arm, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder.

"Eh?" the thirty-three year old looked down at the nineteen-year-old oddly, lowering his energy level to its normal state.

Bura sighed and walked over to the group also. So much for Pan keeping her feelings to herself.

"Anyway, if you guys want to eat, I would suggest you clean up. Mom won't feed you unless you are," Bura explained, averting her eyes from Torankusu and Pan to Vejiita. 

Her father crossed his arms, "_Hmph, _we'll see about that. I can guarantee you that even if I don't go in there for another half hour, your mother will still make me something." Yet even as he said this, he turned and headed into the house. This made Bura grin and turn back to the other two.

"Come on, you two love birds. It's time to eat," Bura said, thinking that would get Pan's attention. It did, in fact, as she ran to the house, dragging Torankusu along with her.

__

"What's this?!" Bura heard her father scream from inside. She ran inside quickly, pushing past her brother and best friend, heading towards the kitchen.

"What's wrong?" she asked, seeing Vejiita, Buruma, and Yamucha having an all out showdown…for the most part. They were all actually just staring at each other, none moving until another would back down.

"Vejiita, I told him he's allowed to stay, so he's aloud to stay. He won't hurt anything!" Buruma argued, poking Vejiita's chest with her index finger to get her point across.

"I know he won't hurt anything!" Vejiita argued back, grabbing her hand tightly into his, "It's just the fact of knowing the bastard's in my home that upsets me!"

Buruma's eyes grew wide, "_Your _home?! Excuse me, but I lived here a lot longer than you and I—."

"Let Yamucha stay, Daddy," Bura finally jumped in, grabbing his free hand, "what if he agrees to not say a single word while you're around?"

Vejiita opened his mouth to argue back, but shut it quickly when he noticed that Bura was giving those puppy dog eyes that he couldn't resist. After pausing a moment, his eyes narrowed down dangerously as he took both his hands away from the two females. He stomped out of the room and up the stairs.

Bura showed off her famous grin, "Problem solved."

Buruma shook her head, putting a hand to her forehead, "I swear…sometimes he takes the littlest things and turns them into something big," she sighed, "maybe he thinks something is gonna spark between the two of us, again…"

Saying this, Buruma and Yamucha looked at each other before laughing loudly. Buruma held her stomach from her laughing as she turned around and stirred whatever she was cooking, letting out small laughs every once in awhile.

Yamucha laughed just a little too loudly. It made Bura look at him quite oddly before her eyes became sad. She watched Yamucha as he continued to laugh, but the laughed sounded _way _too forced to her. When he began to calm down a little, she got a good look at his eyes. The eyes explain unspoken emotions…

Yamucha was still in love with Buruma, even after all these years…


	2. The Real Reason

**__**

Visible Stranger

II.

Later that night, around nine or so, Bura went into her parent's room to talk to her mother. She just had to find out something or her mind was going to blow.

All the arrangements for Yamucha's visit were done. So Vejiita wouldn't have to worry about seeing or hearing Yamucha some time during the night, they put Yamucha in a room almost clear across the whole building of Capsule Corp. Bura felt slightly bad, after all, he had come to catch up on lost time, and being in a house like hers, across the building can almost mean fifty miles away.

Pan had also decided to spend the night, not wanting to miss anything dramatic that might occur. Of course, Bura told her that nothing was going to happen; her dad wasn't going to kill Yamucha. But the dark haired girl insisted, spending most of her time outside, sparring with Vejiita and Trunks anyway. That's where she was right then, as a matter of fact.

Once Bura got to the door that lead to her parent's room, she pressed her body lightly against it, listening for a moment before knocking twice.

"Come on in," Buruma said from inside.

Bura twisted the doorknob and stepped in to find her mother making the bed. She closed the door behind her, walking across the room and sitting in a rocking chair that was close to the bed.

Buruma smiled at her, "Hi, honey. What are you up to?"

"Oh…nothing really. Just wanted to know what you were doing," Bura responded, shifting a bit in the chair, now trying to decide whether or not she should spark up this certain conversation.

"Well, as you can see…" Buruma started, running her hands across the bed sheets to get out all the wrinkles before sitting down on it, "just getting ready for bed."

Bura nodded her head slowly, looking down at the dark blue carpet.

"There something on your mind?" her mother asked, grabbing a brush off her nightstand and running it through her short hair.

The girl shrugged. She was quiet for a moment before looking up at Buruma, "Hey, did you notice anything weird about Yamucha?"

"Weird?" Buruma questioned, thinking about it for a moment then giggling, "I think the better question would be did I notice anything _not _weird about Yamucha."

Bura showed a small, forced smile, "Seriously. What's up with him? I know you two had a thing before…what was that like?"

At first, Buruma looked shocked that Bura would come up with such a question, considering this kind of conversation never really popped up, "Why do you ask?"

Again, Bura shrugged, "Just a question."

"Well…" Buruma started, letting the L sound roll on her tongue for awhile. Then she smiled to herself, suddenly looking as if she were going into a daydream, "We met when we were just sixteen. He was this desert bandit and I was…well…a teenage girl looking for a boyfriend. Son-kun and I were on the search for the dragon balls when we ran into him. He was the cutest thing I ever saw…" she trailed off.

Already, Bura had a certain twinkle in her eyes, the sparkle that every girl gets when she hears an old-fashioned romance story. She sat forward on the rocking chair a little, her hands clasped in her hands and a smile on her lips.

"Yamucha was terrified of girls, believe it or not. He would stutter and get all sweaty whenever he saw one before running off like he just saw a ghost. But overtime, he got used to me and we fell in love," she paused again, reminiscing on the good old days. Bura waited patiently for more.

"I invited him to come live with me and your grandparents here at Capsule Corp. and he accepted. This is when trouble happened…I guess I broke the barrier of Yamucha's fear of girls and he was always around one. Well," Buruma gave a laughing sigh, "now that I think back on it, they were mostly all over him. I was jealous nonetheless and I put all the blame on him, making us fight constantly.

"We did grow apart, yes, but we were still considered as a couple. Then Yamucha got killed and I realized how much I missed him. And you know what the ironic part is?" Buruma asked her daughter, a slight glint in her eye.

"What's that?" Bura asked, putting her hair behind one ear.

Buruma smirked, "Your father is the one that killed him."

Hearing this, Bura's eyes widened with astonishment, her mouth hanging open, "No way! Dad and Yamucha fought over you and Dad won?! So _that's _how you two got together!"

"No! No, no, no…" Buruma waved her hands in front of her face and shook her head, "That's not how it worked. Vejiita didn't even know me back then. He just came to Earth to kill Son-kun. I can't say I remember perfectly…but I know he went to Namek to collect those dragon balls, along with Kuririn, Gohan, and I. Things happened…eventually Yamucha came back, but we were never the same," she admitted, her head lowering in sadness.

Bura's eyes also saddened, thinking about all those years being wasted on a love that didn't seem to be there. It almost made her want to go over to Goten's place and just tell him how she felt.

"That's when Trunks came…from the future. He told us that Androids were going to be attacking, so I let your father stay here to train. To put it all in a nutshell, Yamucha and I grew farther apart and Vejiita and I got closer. I soon ended up pregnant with your brother and…well, the rest is history," Buruma finally finished.

The girl sat in silence for a moment. She remembered her mother telling her about her older brother coming to the past to warn everyone before, so she wasn't about to question that. But for some reason, her mom's story sounded…wrong. Utterly wrong. 

"Were you and Yamucha broken up when you got pregnant?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Buruma sighed and shook her head, "No, I can't really say we were. Sure, we hardly saw each other, but he still assumed we had something. I can't say I was right in doing what I did, I was mostly trying to get revenge."

"Revenge?" Bura questioned, an eyebrow raised in curiosity.

"Yeah…Yamucha was always taking other girls out on dates and since Vejiita was there…it just happened. It's not like I planned to get pregnant, Bura. Yet overtime I did fall in love with your father and vice versa, though he doesn't show it too often," Buruma sighed again, putting a hand to her cheek, "Yamucha was just too fickle."

"Fickle?" Bura questioned once again, her eyebrows now narrowed down into deep concentration. She looked away from her mother's eyes and down at her hands, "Do you think he's still like that?"

Buruma kept her mouth shut for a long moment before answering slowly, "…No. Yamucha has changed a lot, ever since I did end up pregnant. Sure, he still has this tendency to buy fancy clothes and up-to-date cars to impress whoever he can, but I never once heard him going on another date with another girl."

Bura twisted her hands around each other, "Why do you think he didn't?"

"I don't know. Maybe from guilt, maybe just because he learned that he wasn't one to settle down and he didn't want to get involved with anyone," Buruma explained, lowering her eyes also, "I can't say for sure."

They both went quiet, not knowing what else to say. When Bura stood up suddenly, Buruma jumped out of her thoughts and looked at her daughter.

"Well, thanks for the info, Mom," Bura said with a smile, walking towards the door, "it's always fun to listen to your stories."

Buruma mimicked her smile as Bura opened the door, "Anytime. 'Night."

"'Night," Bura replied, stepping out of the room and closing the door. Once out in the cool hallway, she sighed and rested her back against the wall. She closed her eyes and shook her head, whispering to herself; "You're wrong, Mom. Yamucha did change, but only because he realized he really did love you…"

***

The next morning, Bura awoke to the brilliant light that shone into her room through her curtains. She groaned lowly as she dug her face into her pillow, trying to block out the disturbance. Even as she did this, she knew she would be getting up; never being able to fall back asleep once she woke up.

She sighed and threw the covers off of her, dragging her feet into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Today, she didn't feel like moping around her house or just sitting on her bed. She felt like shopping.

Putting on her sleeveless blue shirt and short denim skirt, she added her favorite black boots that came up to just a little past her shins. She also put on some light makeup to make her face glow, only then feeling ready to take on the day. She grabbed her purse and was out.

Bura walked down the stairs, going into the living room. Once in there, she noticed Pan and Trunks on the couch, sleeping at either end. Their feet each reached the others hip, their mouths opening and closing slightly. She smiled at the two and entered the kitchen where she found her parents sitting at the table.

"Hi, you guys," Bura greeted, giving them both a kiss on the cheek before getting out the orange juice from the refrigerator and pouring herself a glass.

Vejiita only gave a short grunt in response, Buruma smiling at her, "Hi, to you, too. Any plans for the day?"

Bura nodded while taking a sip, setting the cup down on the table before answering, "Shopping at the mall. Need to see if they got anything new since the last time I was there."

"I'm sure there's something…" Buruma said, but then trailed off as she realized who just came into the kitchen.

"Good morning, everyone!" Yamucha greeted happily, making Vejiita clench his eyes and fists tightly, growling in annoyance.

Yamucha noticed this and slowly backed out of the kitchen without another word.

Buruma rolled her eyes, "Vejiita, stop being a jerk."

Vejiita showed her a mocking smirk, his dark eyes full of mystery, "Did I say anything?"

His mate got up from her chair, walking over to him and getting right in front of his face, "It was never the things you said that got you in trouble, it was what you did."

He snorted and looked away from her, only then realizing that Bura was no longer in the room, her cup of orange juice still one-forth full.

Back into the living room, Bura followed Yamucha out, "Don't pay any attention to him. He's all talk."

Hearing this, Yamucha smirked and leaned against the back of the couch, hardly taking notice to the two sleeping on it, "I don't know if I should believe that or not, but we did make a deal with him. I can stay here as long as I stay out of his way."

"You weren't in his way when you said good morning," Bura shook her head, "he just isn't used to you."

"Be quiet! I don't wanna…" Pan suddenly said loudly before going into a fit of incoherent words and a lot of mumbling.

From this sudden outburst, Trunks' body jumped as his eyes slowly opened to stare up into the face of his smiling sister.

"You sure slept a long time," Bura said, her smile turning into a smirk, "it's five in the evening."

__

"What?!" Trunks yelled, sitting up quickly and swinging his feet to the floor. Yet since his legs were against the couch and Pan's were on the outside, flinging his legs pushed her legs off, causing her to fall to the floor.

Bura and Yamucha cracked up laughing at the scene, Trunks blushing with embarrassment as he stood up and put his hand behind his head. They all looked down at Pan, who looked too shocked and confused to do anything but sit on the floor.

"Eh heh…sorry about that, Pan," Trunks apologized, reaching a hand down to help her up, which she accepted.

Bura calmed down on her laughing, shaking her head, "I was just kidding anyway, Trunks. It's only ten in the morning."

Trunks sighed, a little red still resting on his cheeks, "Great. But thanks for waking me up, I have to meet up with Goten at eleven."

Hearing his name, Bura winced.

"Umm…" Pan said, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and going over to Bura, "What are you gonna do?"

"What does it look like?" Bura asked, putting a hand on her hip.

Pan looked her up and down before yawning, "Want me to go with?"

Bura shrugged, putting her purse strap more on her shoulder, "If you want to."

"Great, let me just get ready," Pan said, slowly heading towards the stairs.

"Hey…do you two mind if I tag along? I haven't been shopping in awhile," Yamucha asked, standing up straight from leaning against the couch.

Pan whipped her head around, her hair flying with it, "Eh!? B-but…" though Pan was usually one to speak her mind, she couldn't bring herself to ask why her and Bura would want someone so old to "tag along" with them. After all…_he_ _was older than her grandfather!_

"Sure, I don't mind," Bura suddenly spoke, eyeing Pan out of the corner of her eye, telling her to just agree.

Sweat drops galore appeared all over Pan as she thought of the possibilities. She sighed and just headed upstairs, not even trying to start a fight with Bura that would be worthless. 

Guess it was just gonna be one of the days where she hung out with her best friend and a sixty-five year old guy...

---

Now I have some things to say. ^^

Mystic: Thank you! You had the first review lol. =)

Blade: Okay, I heard so many things on their age, I don't know anymore. In my Goten/Bra story, I have Bra one year older than Pan, but I recently looked at a DBZ magazine and it said 779 A.D. – Pan is born, and 780 A.D. – Bra is born. Seeing this made me feel stupid for putting the other thing in my other fic, but now…I don't really feel stupid 'cause I think it's a huge mystery to everyone. O.o;

Snoro: Thanks for still reading this fic even though you don't like the couple. ^_^ Actually, I thought I would only get about two good reviews on this and that's it (besides all the flames), but so far…I seem to be doing okay. 

Parron: Interesting name! And I am SO glad there are other Yamucha/Bura fans out there. =D And on the point of Trunks' name…I'm glad you brought that up. I thought Torankusu sounded really stupid, too, but I wasn't sure. Thanks for telling me and as I'm sure you noticed, his name has changed to Trunks.

Maria S.: Yep, I love being original. I sometimes wonder why the heck one day I just thought of these two as a couple… ^_~

Evil Child: Hello there! Hehe, thank you so much for reviewing! And again, I have to thank you for making that Yamcha/Bura shrine for me. ^^ You made me the happiest person in the world. Hope you feel better, lol! 

And whoever is reading this, check Evil Child out, she's very original with her writings, too. And check out her site! It the hot-diggity bomb!

Crash: Got your review just as I was posting this chapter. ^^ Thanks for reading.


	3. Shopping At the Mall

**__**

Visible Stranger

III.

So the three of them were off to the mall. They decided to take Yamucha's hot new sports car, since it looked the coolest to go to the mall in. Of course, Yamucha was driving, but Bura and Pan had a little quarrel of who would sit up front and who would be stuck in the back. In the end, they decided to let Pan sit up front on the way there, and let Bura sit up front on the way back.

All the way there, Pan kept flipping through every music station possible. She would end up on a country station, look horrified, and then turn it to a pop station. That's when she would scream and turn it to rock, only to find they were playing a song she didn't like. Heavy metal was her specialty, yet when she went through those stations, they were advertising. Pan repeated this pattern for about a half-hour, leaving them only about ten minutes away from the mall.

"Pan, would you just pick something already!" Bura yelled from the back seat, her long hair whipping all around her head. Some got in her mouth, making her give a disgusted look. She dug through her purse to find a hair tie, leaving her in a struggle to tie her hair up.

Pan looked back at her, her eyes narrowed, "It's not my fault there's nothing good on!"

Bura just sighed and shook her head, leaning her head back against the seat. So much for that. She was the kind of person that would mostly listen to any kind of music (as long as it wasn't gospel or musical) and only hearing one or less syllables from each station every two seconds was not her style.

"We're here," Yamucha then spoke up, turning into the parking lot. Bura's eyes lit up, her purse suddenly feeling very heavy as she thought about all the stuff she was going to buy.

"Great," Bura let out, opening the car door and stepping out when Yamucha parked the car between a small white car and a mini van. Pan didn't even bother with the door, as she just jumped right over. Seeing this, Bura rolled her eyes, hoping Yamucha didn't mind how much the girl messed with his car. When she glances over at him, he gave her the impression that he didn't even realize, what with the smile on his face.

Just seeing his smile made her smile, also. She walked next to him, looking up at him. It was then that she realized how tall he really was, the boots she had on even making her feel short.

"So what are you planning on doing here?" she asked, stopping for a car to pull out of it's parking space before continuing.

Yamucha grinned down at her, "Nothing really, I just had to get away from your dad." He rolled his eyes and gave a fake horrified look, "He would probably kill me without your protection."

Bura blushed deeply once Yamucha blinked, making her look down at the black pavement, "Nah. My dad's the nicest guy you'll ever wanna meet…he just doesn't like to show it," she giggled upon saying this, knowing that no one would ever believe that.

He chuckled, shaking his head, "I promise I'll work on believing that."

She was going to comment, but got interrupted by a yell coming from the mall doors.

"Come on, you slow pokes! I know we have all day, but you don't have to walk like we do!" Pan scolded, her dark eyes full of impatience.

"Coming, coming…" Bura mumbled, going into a slow jog to make it to the mall entrance within four seconds so Pan wouldn't have to wait any longer.

As soon as the blue-haired girl reached the black-haired girl, Pan grabbed her hand and dragged her inside, already running to their right, "Music store, here we come!"

Bura sighed as she got dragged along, her other hand holding onto her purse so she wouldn't lose it. It was never one of her favorite hobbies to run in boots anyway; why couldn't Pan just walk around the mall like a normal person. That reminded her…

She looked over her shoulder, seeing tons of strands of her hair flying at her side. She saw Yamucha just coming into the mall and laughing at the sight of her.

"We'll meet you at the food court in an hour or so!" Bura yelled through all the people, making sure the older man heard her.

She watched him nod and give the okay sign before she turned back around, just in time to see the music store in front of them. 

Pan finally let go of her hand as she ran to the rock section, picking up four to five CD's at a time with wide eyes, "Wow…they have a new album out?! How did I _not _know this?!" she screamed in frustration yet amusement as she continued to look through the stack.

A sweat drop appeared on the side of Bura's head, but she quickly shook it off, "O-kay…"

**********

About a half-hour later, the two of them ended up in Hot Topic, Pan's "Absolute Favorite Store!" As soon as they entered it, loud music blasted into Bura's ears, making her really wonder how the music in the stores could _only _be heard in the stores themselves, and not outside of them.

"Whoa, Bura, check it. What do you think about this?" Pan asked as she held the dark, baggy pants in front of her bottom, kicking her feet a little to show the effect.

Bura forced a smile, thinking that the thing looked horrific, "I think it looks great!"

Pan nodded, smirking, "Wicked," was all she said as she threw it over her arm, an indication that she was going to buy them. Bura, again, shook her head and looked around the place a little.

She happened to spot a black tee-shirt hanging up on one of the walls with a teddy bear on it, its arms and legs wide open. Above the bear, it read in big red letters "Your Mommy's Not Here."

Raising a thin eyebrow, she read another plain black shirt that simply said, "I love ice cream."

"What the heck? Why does Pan like this stuff, it makes no sense…" she mumbled to herself, but only heard the low vibrations in her chest, since it was almost impossible to hear anything over the music.

"Wonder what it would be like if I was like Pan…" her lips moving, but not bothering to make a sound. A little image came to Bura's mind of her dressed in jeans that were so baggy they looked like a terrible dress, and a shirt with a teddy bear on it that read "Your Mommy's Not Here." She would wear just plain tennis shoes everyday, her hair cut shorter with a…

"My hair!" Bura suddenly said, her fingers automatically sliding through her long, fine hair. "I've been wanting to do something with my hair, this is the perfect place to do it!" A huge smile quickly came to her lips as she yelled across the store, "See ya at the food court later, Pan!"

"All right!" Pan yelled back, both of them used to splitting up in the mall sometime.

Bura exited Hot Topic, her ears ringing from the sudden quietness. She began walking down the left hall, knowing exactly where all the stores were located. And in fact, it only took her four minutes to reach the hair salon, walking into the big, lighted room with many mirrors and about three employees working on people's hair. The atmosphere smelled of hair spray and other fragrances the women were wearing. Seeing that everyone was busy, she decided to take a seat in the waiting area and look through the hair style books they had lying around, seeing what kind of style she would like best.

"Hmm…should I get it cut to my shoulders?" She tilted her head to the side in thought as she flipped through more pages.

"Maybe a little higher? To show my neck…that cut would go good with a lot of my outfits," she commented, yet not done looking for the perfect look.

"May I help you, Ma'am?" Bura heard one of the hair stylists' say from behind the counter. 

As soon as this question was asked, Bura flipped the page to a style she fell in love with, "Oh, yeah…you can help me a lot," she answered, her eyes bright.

*********

Forty-five minutes later, Bura was heading to the food court, a huge grin on her face from satisfaction. She couldn't wait to see the expressions on Pan and Yamucha's faces, staring at her new self, giving her compliment after compliment.

Already, she felt as though she were getting a lot more attention from the guys around her, making her stand taller, pride fulfilling her eyes, taking long strides to show her positive attitude.

__

Amazing how one little hair cut can make a huge difference. She said to herself, smirking as she entered the food court, a lot of guy's heads turning her way. She was about to sit down at a table that was in the middle of the huge dining area, but happened to spot Yamucha in line at Sbarro's, the famous pizza place. Immediately, she walked over to him, standing beside him and cutting all the people behind him in line.

"Hey," was all she said as she felt her hair fall over one of her eyes, making her grin again.

"Hey," he said back, giving her a quick glance before doing a double take, his eyes widening a bit, "Bura?!"

Bura smiled in delight, assuming that the look and surprise on his face was a good sign. She ran her hand lightly over her hair, almost as though she was afraid she would mess the whole thing up if it weren't handled with absolute care.

"Do you like?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, definitly. What did you do to it?"

"I got a body wave," she explained, flicking her hair over her shoulder, "I got so tired of the straight look with no layers. This makes me look so much older, don't you think?"

Yamucha chuckled and took a few steps forward, almost ready to give his order, "Yeah, it really does, Bura. I like what you did with it," he suddenly stopped and smirked at her, "now that you experienced the life of different hair styles, are you gonna change it every four weeks?"

Bura laughed, knowing Yamucha was referring to her mother, "You never know, I may surprise you."

"Mm, I like surprises," Yamucha shot back, giving her a sly grin that made her face heat up.

__

Oh, well aren't you _the player? _She sarcastically commented. She stepped forward, scanning the menu hanging above the counter.

"What are you planning on getting?" she questioned, squeezing in between him and a person that was in front of him.

He shrugged, "Probably just a large pizza."

She shook her head and pulled out a fifty-dollar bill from her purse, pressing it in his palm, "Make that four large pizzas. I'll go find a seat, okay?" and without waiting for an answer, she walked out of line in search for a table that was even semi-clean.

Yamucha only stared down at the money in amazement before looking up to watch her walk around tables to get to the one she wanted. A small smile came to his face as he muttered out, "Just like her mother…"

**********

It wasn't long before Yamucha and Bura were able to sit down and eat their pizza, Bura showing her Saiyajin side. At least she does have manners instead of just shoving everything into her face, was Yamucha's main thought.

"So where's Pan at?" Yamucha asked, watching the cheese stretch as he grabbed a piece of pizza.

Bura shrugged, grabbing her third piece, "Who knows, probably still in Hot Topic looking at shirts that say "Let's all kill the cat."

Yamucha was about to bite into his pizza, but stopped with the tip in his mouth, trying to figure out if he heard right. He put the pizza down, raised an eyebrow. He finally decided against asking any questions and just began eating.

Just like she knew they were talking about her, Pan suddenly showed up, taking a seat next to Bura and grabbing a piece, "Mmmm, thanks for ordering, guys. I was hoping I wouldn't have to wait in line."

Bura smiled, waiting for Pan to say something about her hair. She noticed that the older girl got three shopping bags at her feet, all of which had the famous HOT TOPIC logo.

"So, what'cha get?" Bura asked, crossing her arms over her chest and resting them on the table.

Pan shrugged and began to mumble out a big jumble of words that were very incoherent from trying to talk around eating. Lucky for the other two, she didn't talk very long, so they wouldn't have to learn a foreign language.

"Oh, that's cool," Bura said after Pan was done, nodding slightly.

Pan suddenly screamed something with tons of pizza in her mouth still, making Bura and Yamucha jump and look at her with wide eyes, noticing the odd stares from the people around.

"Uhh, Pan?" Bura began, putting a hand on her shoulder, "Do you think you can swallow before you talk?"

She obeyed, chewing for a couple more seconds before swallowing hard and taking a deep breath, "I said, what did you do to your hair?!"

"Oh, this?" Bura rolled her eyes up to see, acting as though she was unaware that she had gotten it done, "It's called a body wave. It gives more life to hair. You like it?"

Pan shrugged again, taking another bite of her pizza, "Eh, it's okay."

From hearing those three words, Bura's face reddened with anger, wondering why Pan couldn't be nicer about it and not so blunt. After all, whenever Pan shows her something and she hates it, she never says she does.

Bura turned away from her and began picking at her pizza, her ocean blue eyes narrowed down, "Oh yeah? Well, I think those pants you showed me earlier were terrible."

"You can say whatever you want," Pan said, obviously unaffected by Bura's insult, "I don't care about other peoples opinions, as long as it's what I want."

Bura thought about what she said for a moment before coming back with, "What, are you lecturing me now?"

"No," she shook her head, taking a sip of pop from a straw, "just telling you that insults don't work on me."

"Whatever. You're just lame," Bura stated, rolling her eyes before looking down at her pizza.

And all through this little "argument," Yamucha was only looking back and forth, from speaker to speaker. Finally, he couldn't help but speak up after they seemed to get quiet, "And…you two are friends?"

"Best friends," they said in unison, yet without any enthusiasm, nor without looking up at him from their food.

"Oh," he said quickly, nodding slowly, his eyes wide, "I can tell. It shows, really."

That's when Yamucha went on talking about what he did at the mall the whole time; starting with the places he went to, to the weird people he ran into, to the things he bought. Pan wasn't listening at all, only concentrating on her pizza and a few guys that were messing around a few tables away. Bura was listening, however, finding everything he told very ironically humorous. 

As he went on talking about the "gay gothic people," she found it very hard not to giggle continuously. 

__

He sure does have a way of telling stories… Bura thought, smiling widely, still half listening to him speak delightfully. _And he's so comfortable to talk to and to be around. I haven't felt this relaxed around someone in ages. _Her smile grew just a little more as she thought about it. 

__

Maybe I should really consider getting to know him better…


	4. Embarrassment

**__**

Visible Stranger

IV.

After going to a few more stores in the mall and outside of the mall, they decided to head back to Capsule Corp. for an early supper. And of course, Bura got to sit up front, even after Pan hoped that she would forget about the arrangement. Also, Bura kept it on one station, showing Pan that when a station advertises, it's usually for no more than four minutes.

They got back within record time, Pan's stomach only growling slightly. Yamucha parked his car in the driveway, then helping the girls carry their bags inside, only then realizing how much they really did buy.

"Man, I can't wait to try on all my new clothes," Bura said, holding about four bags. In front of her, Pan was carrying her bags that she got from the music place and some others, and behind her, Yamucha was stuck carrying all the boxes that piled up to just a little above his head, making it so he couldn't see in front of him.

"You mean you didn't try them on in the store?" Pan asked, pushing in the seven-digit-code to enter Capsule Corp. that only certain people knew.

"No," Bura answered, shifting some of the bags over to her other hand, flexing her fingers, "I'm sure I'm still the same size I was about a month ago."

"You never know," Pan said, smirking over her shoulder as the doors opened, letting her step in the house, "you might've gained some weight."

Bura's eyes widened as she looked down at herself, "Pan, don't say that. You'll curse me!"

"Oh yeah, right," Pan rolled her eyes, now looking into the living room, "Hey Trunks, hey Uncle Goten," she greeted, going off to the side to set her bags down.

Abruptly, Bura stopped in her tracks, her bags dropping right in the doorway. She opened her mouth and choked out: "Goten?"

Goten looked up from playing rock, paper, scissors with Trunks, spotting Bura standing at the door, also noticing someone coming closer behind her with a lot of boxes. He was about to say "watch out" or something, but decided to watch the comical moment that was about to take place.

He grinned, "Hey, Bura."

Just hearing him say her name made her smile and perk up, her hair falling into her face again. She was about to reply to that, but got stopped when she heard a loud "whoa!" behind her, followed by a big push into her back. Once again, her eyes widened, as she got pushed forward, only barely catching her balance as the boxes fell all around her. Yamucha stepped up, hand behind his head sheepishly.

"Eh heh…oops, hopefully there wasn't anything breakable in those," Yamucha commented, looking at the big mess he made.

Goten and Trunks cracked up laughing, giving each other a high five in honor of the good show.

Bura blushed a deep red from looking so stupid in front of Goten, her head hanging low as she looked at her feet. She heard his and her brother's laughter ringing in her ears, making them burn also. Looking around at the floor, she noticed that all the bags and boxes happened to be hers. Now she just had to figure out a way to gather them all up at once, take them to her room, and hide away until the two guys forgot about the incident.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?" she heard Goten speak up, making her eyes wonder upward to see what was going on. She happened to see Pan with her arm in the position to indicate that she just punched Goten in the head.

"For being you!" Pan yelled back, her eyes narrowed. She turned away from him, crossing her arms over her chest; "You should apologize to Bura."

That only made the blush on Bura's face glow brighter, "No, no…" she waved her hands in front of her face, forcing a smile, "That's not necessary. I thought it was funny, too."

"See? She thought it was funny, too," Goten shot back at Pan, only to stand up and get her in a headlock, rubbing his knuckles into her scalp, making her orange bandanna slide down in front of her face.

"Hey!" Pan yelled, gripping onto his arms as to not fall over from dizziness, "Lemmie go!" Finally, she was able to catch her balance enough to lean forward and flip him over her shoulders.

Goten landed with a loud _thump _on the floor, a _whoosh_ coming out of his mouth as he laid there, staring up at the ceiling.

Bura let out a small giggle, but covered her mouth immediately, not wanting him to think she was making fun of him. This only made Trunks laugh more. He stood up and grabbed Pan's wrist, holding it up above her head.

"And the winner is…Pan!" he exclaimed, grinning down at the beaten Goten.

"Yeah!" Pan screamed, prancing around the room, meant to be a victory dance.

Bura shook her head and looked to her left, only to realize that Yamucha was no longer in the room. She raised an eyebrow, wondering why and how he managed to sneak away. Shrugging, she decided to pick up her bags and head to her room unnoticed also. She did manage to pick up a little over half of her things before she heard Pan speak up.

"Need any help?" the older girl asked, being held in a "dancing dip" style by Trunks, making her hair go above her head.

She shook her head, "Nah, I got it." Picking up a few more boxes, she began to rush herself.

"Goten, help her carry her things up to her room," Pan demanded before getting pulled up from that position and being spun around a couple of times.

Bura's head shot up, her face once again heating up. _Why is Pan doing this to me?! _Bura asked herself, only shaking her head, picking up one more box…only for that box to be one too many. The whole pile she made in her arms went crashing back down to the floor.

"Oh man…" she sighed, looking down at everything in frustration. Again, she kneeled down to gather everything up.

Goten stepped up to her, but she pretended not to notice.

"Man, you're a klutz," Goten remarked before picking up a few of her things for her.

Unnoticed to everyone else, Bura's eyes lowered, sadness taking over her blue orbs. She knew that what Goten said was just his everyday saying, but when he said it to her, it made her feel low. Is that all he thought of her as? A klutz? Well, she didn't doubt it. Especially after everything that happened just from entering her house.

Goten picked up most of it for her, holding everything with ease. She was left with about four other bags, having to follow him up the stairs and to her room, leaving a dancing Trunks and Pan downstairs. Couldn't _she _at least come up with her?

They managed to make it all the way up the stairs and to her room without dropping anything. Bura just hoped beyond hope that she didn't have anything "embarrassing" lying around her room. Since the only people that ever went in there was her, Pan, and sometimes her mom, she never bothered to pay attention to anything that would embarrass the hell out of her.

"Where do you want this stuff?" Goten asked as he entered the center of her room.

"Just put it down anywhere," Bura mumbled, walking to the other side of her room and setting down the bags she had in her arms. She heard Goten set everything down where he was standing and since he wasn't moving, she guessed that he was looking around.

__

Please…have my room completely _spotless…please! _Bura repeated over in her mind, her fingers subconsciously crossed.

"You know…" he began, his voice dripping with criticism.

__

Oh Kami…he saw something. She closed her eyes and continued to have her back to him, pretending to look down at all the stuff she just bought.

"You're room is _too _spotless. Are you not in here enough to make a mess or do you clean it everyday?" he asked, raising an eyebrow to her.

Bura's eyes snapped open as she registered what he just said, her head whipping around to stare into his eyes. Her mouth opened, but nothing would come out. She wanted to respond to his question, but what if she sounded stupid? '_Oh, I'm in here all the time, just thinking about you. But see, that's all I do, so I don't have enough time to go through everything else and make a mess.'_

Yeah…right.

"Umm…" was the thing that came out of her mouth.

Goten stared at her for a little longer, before he began to feel a little uncomfortable, considering she was just staring at him and not answering or saying anything.

"Uhh…yeah. Well, I'm going back downstairs," he told her, exiting the room quickly.

She watched him go and continued to stare at her doorway before slowly walking over to her bed, sitting down on it. Quickly, everything that just happened since she entered the door flashed through her mind, making tears sting her eyes. She hid her face in her hands in embarrassment and shame.

**********

Goten walked back downstairs, noticing that Pan and Trunks were still dancing, laughing joyfully the whole time.

"There, I helped. You satisfied?" he asked Pan, going over to the couch, flipping himself over the back to bounce onto the cushion.

"Sure am!" Pan yelled, sticking her tongue out at him, "I'm also satisfied that…I won!" she bragged, smiling widely.

Goten smirked at her, "That was just one time…" he said, before continuing quickly so a conversation he didn't enjoy came up, "So, what are we gonna do, Trunks? Wanna catch that new horror movie that's out?"

"Sure, why not. Nothing else to do around here," Trunks said, spinning Pan out once more to end their dance, letting go of her hand and turning towards Goten.

Pan walked up to them, her eyes big and pleading, "Can I come, too, you guys?" she asked, grasping her hands together.

Goten and Trunks exchanged glances before her uncle asked, "Why?"

She stood up straight, putting her hands on her hips, "Because I've been wanting to see it, too."

Goten snickered, standing in front of her, poking her nose, "Do you even know what the movie's about?"

"Of course I do!" Pan shouted, smacking his hand away from her face, "It's a horror movie and a bunch of people get killed!"

"Oh…" Goten said, backing away from Pan, "I guess you do know what it's about. Okay, let's go then!" he shouted, running to the door.

"Hey…umm, can Bura come?" Pan asked, her thumb pointing upstairs, her hands clad with her black biker gloves that she always wore.

Goten stopped with his hand on the doorknob, turning around slowly, "I thought she didn't like horror movies."

"…that's true," Pan admitted, her eyes averting from him to up the stairs, guilt weighing on her mind. Would it be nice of her to just leave Bura like that when she's actually the one that had her over?

"Come on," Trunks spoke up, wrapping his arms around her shoulders in a friendly manner, "my sister will be fine. She probably wants to look through all her clothes anyway," he said, pushing her forward slightly, wanting to get to the movie theater before the movie started.

Pan continued to stare up for awhile before finally sighing in defeat, "You're right…she wouldn't want to go anyway."

That was their last decision as they exited the house and took Trunks' car to the movies.

**********

Up in her room, Bura looked out the window as the three jumped into the car and drove away, already laughing at something Goten said. She went back to sitting on her bed, sighing and looking down at her blue carpet.

"I would've went…" she said quietly, looking down at everything she bought once again. She wasn't really planning on looking at them until later, considering the real reason her, Pan, and Yamucha came home was to eat. Now Pan was probably going to feel up on popcorn.

Oh well. She wasn't hungry anymore anyway. At least that's what she tried to convince herself to believe. In a way, she had lost her appetite from all the embarrassment she went through, but it still wouldn't hurt to engulf some food. However, she didn't feel like going downstairs. She knew her eyes would give her away from her emotions and didn't feel like being questioned. So she decided to drop to the floor and dig through her bags.

She only half-heartedly looked through her clothes, taking them out of the bag, holding them out in front of her, folding them neatly, and setting them aside.

Eventually, she happened to come across a small black box, smooth velvet covering it. She examined it for a moment, looking it over carefully.

"Funny…I don't remember buying something this small," she said before opening the box delicately, only to find a pair of earrings. The earrings were shaped like waves crashing over one another, the blue reflecting brightly in the light.

She gasped as she stared at the jewelry, carefully lifting one of the earrings off the white cotton that they were resting on, holding it up to her eyes, watching as it spun around one way, only to spin back the other way.

"I didn't buy these…" Bura said, positive she would have remembered if she did, "and Pan wouldn't have. She doesn't even have pierced ears. Did I accidentally grab someone else's box?"

She certainly hoped not. That happened to her before, where her things got mixed up with someone else's. She bought a really expensive dress and some stylish skirts, but ended up with a plain white tee shirt and a regular pair of blue shorts. She took it back to the store, hoping for the other person to come back also, so they could exchange, but the person was never to be seen.

Shaking her head, she put the earring back in the box, standing up, and going downstairs. Bura went into the kitchen where she heard her mom and Yamucha talking. She guessed her dad was outside training, not being able to picture him and Yamucha in the same room. She entered that room, making Buruma and Yamucha stop talking immediately.

"Hello, Honey. Did you have a fun time?" Buruma asked, smiling up at her daughter.

Bura only nodded as she went over to Yamucha and showed him the earrings, "Do you think we should take these back? They're not mine."

Yamucha stared at them for a moment before grinning at her, "Yes they are."

"…huh?" she asked, her eyes full of question.

He took the box from her hand, "When you got that new hair style, I saw how much you enjoyed it. I happened to spot these and thought they would go really good. Do you like them?" he asked, handing the box back to her.

Bura stared wide-eyed at the gift as the box was once again placed in her palm. Quickly, a big smile came over her lips, "Are you kidding?! I love them! But you didn't have to do that, how—."

She got interrupted by Yamucha holding up his hand and shaking his head, "I wanted to. I figure it's a thank you gift for convincing your father to let me stay here."

"Wow…" she breathed out, moving the box in circular motions to watch them glisten, "Thank you so much…"

Before she realized what she was doing, she leaned down and gave him a huge bear hug, rocking her body from side to side slightly.

From her head being against his chest, she felt and heard the low chuckle that came from him as he wrapped one arm around her waist to return the hug, "It's nothing, really." He let her go when he felt her begin to pull away, laughing again as he saw her continue to admire her gift.

Buruma smiled, leaning over her daughter's shoulder to see also. She pushed Bura's hair out of the way, behind her shoulder, "Why don't you go try them on and show us what they look like on you?"

Bura smiled at her, "Good idea," she said, spinning around and heading back up stairs.

Buruma laughed at the now hyper girl, turning back to Yamucha, "You really made her day."

"Eh…what can I say. I make everyone's day," he commented, putting his hands behind his head and leaning back in the chair…only to push a little to hard, making him fall backwards onto the floor.

**********

Bura quickly walked into her room, setting the box down on her vanity and taking out the earrings. The smile never failed to leave her face as she stared at her new self in the mirror.

__

I can't believe he did that. He's way cool if he had the style to pick these out! Bura complimented him from her mind, taking out her big golden loop earrings. _I'm glad he likes me…he can be someone to hang out with when Pan lets me down. _She put the one wave earring in her right ear, tapping it a little to watch it twirl. She smiled and worked on putting the other one in. _I have to think of a way to thank him for this. Even though these are a thank you gift, it still has to be returned again. _She finished putting the earrings in, stepping back to look into the mirror fully. Her smile grew even more as she noticed how well the pendants and her hair really went with each other.

__

Oh yeah…I can really get used to this guy…

----------

Hi everyone! I was reading you guys' wonderful reviews and I'm glad you like how I portray Pan. Lol, I think she's cool, too.

AND a lot of you happened to mention that you noticed it was under Romance/Tragedy. Well…don't all romance's have tragedy in them? Yeah…everyone has to admit that in all romance's, there always has to be a problem somewhere along the way. Heck, it's even done in Disney movies! O.O;; Actually, this story is under a lot of the genres, but since I can only put 2, I just put romance and tragedy together. But the more I think about it, the more I think I'm gonna put romance and drama together. Sound better? ^^ Good.


	5. Night Talking

**__**

Visible Stranger

V.

Later that night, Buruma managed to make a good supper for four. Yamucha was the one who took Trunks' place, much to Vejiita's dismay. Nonetheless, he had to give in, in the end. Buruma and Bura were just making too many threats for him to handle.

"I'll shut down the gravity room for good!"

"I'll ignore you!"

"You'll have to sleep on the couch for _three _months!"

"I'll begin dating a really weak human!"

"I won't cook for you any more, you'll have to cook for yourself. And you know how bad that is!"

"I'll shave _all _your hair off!"

Yes, Vejiita thought it was the least he could do to let Yamucha join them for dinner at the table that night.

They did eat in silence, however. Vejiita was eating in his usual quick Saiyajin way, Buruma just looked down at her food as she ate, and Bura kept sneaking glances over at Yamucha, realizing how tense and uncomfortable he looked.

Finally, Bura couldn't take it anymore. She cleared her throat and began speaking, "So, did you have a nice day, Daddy?"

"_Hmph," _was the only answer she received, which usually meant, "Eh, it was okay."

She nodded, agreeing that her day was the same, "See the earrings that Yamucha got me," she said, putting down her fork and pushing her hair back, shaking her head from side to side slowly to show her father all the angles.

Vejiita stopped eating for a moment, his one eyebrow quirked in slight amusement. He turned to Yamucha, smirking that smirk that could make almost anyone admit they murdered someone even if they had not one thing to do with it.

"You trying to butter me up, human?" he asked, his eyes dancing with delight at seeing Yamucha's face go red.

"W-what?" Yamucha questioned, looking over to Bura quickly before averting his attention back to Vejiita, "No, not at all. It was just simply a gift."

"I can see that," Vejiita growled, "but was this gift for my daughter a way to get on my good side?"

Yamucha simply shook his head, "No, I can honestly say it was out of the goodness of my heart," he put his right hand over his heart and gave a sincere look that was obviously in sarcasm.

Buruma covered her mouth to hide a laugh while Bura let out a little snicker, looking down at her food so her father couldn't give her that look that told her to stop or else.

Again, Vejiita growled, slamming his fist down on the table, making all the plates and silverware do a jump, "I will _not _be mocked in my own home by a weakling human like you!"

Yamucha let out a nervous laugh, raising his hands in defeat, "Okay, okay, sorry about that Vejiita. Just trying to lighten the mood."

Without another word, Vejiita went back to eating, now letting everyone know how ticked off he was by clinging dishes together roughly.

Buruma narrowed her eyes after awhile, setting her silverware down to glare daggers at her mate, "Vejiita, if you don't stop acting like a spoiled little brat that didn't get his dessert, Bura and I will act on all our threats!"

Bura raised her eyes to Vejiita, wondering what he'll do. He simply ignored that statement was ever made. Quickly, he got done eating, taking one big gulp of his drink before pushing his chair back and stomping out of the kitchen. The door was heard slamming in the other room, meaning he went outside to train vigorously, no doubt needing to let out all his frustration.

Giving a sheepish look, Yamucha put his hand behind his head, "Eh…sorry about that."

"He'll get over it," Buruma said.

**********

Around eleven that night, Bura lay awake in her bed, just staring at the dark ceiling, listening to the low hum of the gravity room and the distant sounding blasts outside. She sighed, wondering when her father would be done "getting over it." He's been at it since six that evening, making her almost want to go out there and tell him to get to bed already.

Of course, he would probably also stink really badly and she didn't want to go near that.

Only a few more moments passed before the low growl of the gravity room shutting down was heard, indicating that he was finally done. She sighed again, this time in content, letting her eyes close slowly. She was definitely ready for some well-deserved sleep.

Over a short time period, she heard her father come back in Capsule Corp., walk up the stairs, enter his bedroom, her parents exchanging a few words, the shower running, the shower shutting off, and then nothing.

__

Maybe sleep won't be that easy… Bura told herself, knowing that a half an hour had to have past and she still felt wide-awake.

Another half an hour…she heard someone walking down the hall. She rolled her eyes, thinking Vejiita was getting up for some more training after Buruma angered him again. She lifted herself up on her elbow, looking out into the dark hallway. Opening her mouth to yell at her dad to go back to bed, she quickly stopped herself when she saw Yamucha walk past her bedroom. Bura tilted her head to the side, wondering what he was doing. His room was clear on the other side of where he was now…was he sleep walking?

Thinking of this idea, she giggled quietly to herself, throwing the covers off her body, which was clad in only blue boxers and a white spaghetti strap shirt. Her bare feet padded over her carpet and to her door, peaking out the side just in time to see Yamucha walking down the stairs. She took a peak across the hall and, seeing that her parents' bedroom door was closed, exited her room and tiptoed down the hall and stairs.

She saw him go out the back way where their pool was located. Raising an eyebrow, she decided to follow him a little more…just in case he was sleep walking and decided to drown himself or something.

Going over to the door that he closed, she looked out the window to see him standing near the pool's edge, looking into the clear liquid. She twisted the doorknob quietly and stepped outside also, the warm midnight air hitting her skin.

"Yamucha?" she questioned, crossing her arms under her breasts, her voice full of curiosity.

He turned around quickly, surprised that someone else was there. When he saw who it was, however, his eyes went calm and a big smile spread over his lips, "Hey, Bura. What are you doing up this late?"

She shrugged, slowly walking over to him and staring in the pool also, "Couldn't sleep. You?"

"Same," he answered, averting his gaze back to the water. He looked at her from the side of his eye, "I see you're still wearing those earrings."

Automatically, Bura reached up and ran her fingers over her jewels, smiling at him, "Of course, I won't be taking these out for awhile…unless of course I find a better pair tomorrow or something," she laughed.

Yamucha laughed also, watching as she sat down on the side of the pool, dipping her feet and ankles into the water. He followed suit, sitting down beside her as they sat in silence. Bura kicked her feet slightly, making little ripples go through the water.

"Anyway, sorry about my dad…from earlier," Bura finally spoke up, squeezing her hands between her legs.

"You don't have to keep apologizing for him, ya know," Yamucha told her, leaning back, one arm supporting him, "anyone who's anyone knows how he is and we've come to accept it like that. Especially when…your mother got with him."

Bura quickly looked over at him, not knowing whether or not she should bring up the conversation, "Umm…well, some people don't know him, so…_that's it!" _she suddenly yelled, snapping her fingers as something clicked in her mind.

"Uhh…what?" Yamucha asked, his eyes full of curiosity and a little bit of fear from her outburst.

Bura's eyes lightened up, but at the same time, darkened, "Well…see, every time I have a boyfriend, it never lasts too long. I've spent countless hours trying to figure out why and now that I think about it…they don't leave me until they meet my parents," she looked him in the eyes and saw that he was still confused, "Don't you see? They meet my dad and then feel intimidated! They don't want to get involved with a girl who has a father that looks like he wants to kill them because of everything they do!"

Yamucha stared at her for a moment, before sweat dropping, "Uhh…is that a good revelation?"

Thinking about it a little longer, Bura's shoulders slumped and her eyes lowered sadly, "No…I guess not. I mean, in a way, I guess it is. At least now I know not to invite my boyfriends over to 'meet the parents'." She let out a short chuckle.

The man stayed quiet for a long time, though Bura never noticed, she was too deep in her thoughts.

"Unless you begin dating a guy that already knows your father."

Bura looked up, grabbing her hair and putting it all over one of her shoulders, running her hands down her silky locks, "Someone that already knows him?"

He nodded, looking up at the sky as he thought of the possibilities, "Ya know, someone like Goten."

"You just had to mention him, didn't you?" she asked, her eyes now narrowed down in anger and sadness. Remembering how embarrassed she was earlier, she only told herself more and more that she had to avoid him for awhile.

"Did…I say something wrong?" he asked, eyes blinking a couple of times.

Her eyes looked at him and her feelings were shown perfectly, making his eyes sadden also, "Oh…I'm sorry, Bura. I didn't realize that…" he stopped there.

"I don't need any sympathy," she said roughly, "so what if he doesn't notice me, yet he's the center of my world. I seem to be getting by okay."

Yamucha stared at her for a little longer. She was a tough girl that was for sure, definitely had Vejiita's blood in her. He knew how much it hurt to love someone so much, yet they didn't return the feelings. A lot of people that haven't experienced it yet would think all the worrying and sadness were for nothing, but for those who had, they know that a punch in the heart hurts a lot more than a punch in the face.

Man, the more he thought about it, the more it was hard to believe. Bura, the daughter of Vejiita, loved Goten, the son of Gokou. And the Son didn't even care! He sure never imagined the little seven-year-old that he remembered being a heartbreaker. Who knows if he knows it though. All the Sons' seemed to be very oblivious of the things around them.

"Well, just think of it this way, Bura. When you do find someone that returns your feelings, you'll be saying 'Goten who?' and that's when he'll realize what he passed up," Yamucha advised, showing her a cheerful grin.

Bura still didn't crack a smile, however, "I highly doubt that, Yamucha. And besides…I know how it feels and I don't want him going through the same thing. …Nor do I want anyone else going through it either," she hinted, giving him the eye that said "yeah, enough about me, let's talk about you."

Yamucha felt a little blush spread on his cheeks, leaning away from her, "Uhh…well, that's great, Bura. You have a really great heart, especially considering who your parents a—."

He realized what he said, yet hoped that Bura would just pass it up. Because really…it wasn't _that _obvious, was it?

"You're saying that my mom doesn't have a great heart?" Bura inquired, eyeing him even more.

__

Damn it… "Uhh…" Yamucha began before shaking her head quickly, "No, no…that's not what I meant. I just—."

"I'm not gonna disagree with you," Bura interrupted again, wanting to smirk at his uneasiness, but held it back, "I love my mom a lot, but I don't like a lot of the decisions she made in the past."

Yamucha didn't know what to say to that one. How much did Bura really know about her mother's past? An even better question: How much did Bura really know about her mother's _and _his past? It was also quite rare to see a daughter criticizing her mother like this, usually it's the other way around.

"W-well…if she didn't make the decisions she made back then, you might have not been born," Yamucha finally spoke up, glad that explanation sounded reasonable.

"I know," Bura agreed, "but she could have went about these decisions in another, _nicer _manner."

Again, Yamucha was dumbfounded on what to say. What exactly was she getting at? He let out a sigh, deciding that he should stop acting stupid and oblivious.

"Listen, Bura…there was a lot of chaos back then between your mom and I, and I think there would have been even more if she hadn't have done things the way she did," Yamucha informed her, looking away from her intense gaze.

Bura was quiet for once, surprised that Yamucha actually admitted to that. She never took her eyes off him however, wanting to get him to talk more. She didn't know why, but she felt she needed to urge him on, she _wanted _to reach into his mind.

"Do you ever regret it?"

"Everyday of my life," Yamucha answered abruptly, but just as quickly wished he kept his mouth shut. Why did he just tell her that? No matter who asked him, he always denied it and said that he lost all his feelings for Buruma.

"Yamucha…" Bura said softly, feeling her eyes water up. She was a hopeless romantic and this was just like watching a sad romance movie that had no happy ending. She knew her mother would never go back to Yamucha and…though she felt terrible…she didn't want her to anyway. That wasn't the point, still, the point was the fact that he had to live with regret for so long.

"Hey," he said, showing her a smile, "I'm just like you. I don't want any sympathy, 'cause you still have a chance. You have your whole life to get to Goten and I'm sure—."

"Do you always try to change the subject?" Bura asked, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

Yamucha grinned, "You did it to me first."

Bura mimicked his grin, "Yeah, well…I'm allowed to."

He shook his head and hid a yawn behind his hand, stopping in mid yawn from seeing the ticked off look Bura was giving him. He quickly shut his mouth, "Heh, sorry Bura. It's not like you bore me, I'm just getting tired now."

Her frown turned into a smile, "Yeah, me too…wanna go to bed?" she asked, quickly blushing at how that sounded. _Man, hanging out with my brother too much definitely gave me a dirty mind._

He chuckled and stood up, "Sure," he reached down a hand to help her up, which she offered. They headed to the door, going into quiet mode once they stepped inside. They made it upstairs with absolute care, not even making a squeak, not like Capsule Corp. had any.

They reached Bura's bedroom, but before she went in, she turned towards him, "Well, it was really great talking to you…getting to know you better," she told him in a whisper

He nodded, stopping in the hallway also, "Yeah, same here," he said in a whisper also, taking a step backwards to get back to his room, not wanting Vejiita to come out of his room, which was really right beside him, and kill him for waking him.

Bura smiled widely, showing her teeth, "Maybe we can do something tomorrow."

Yamucha hadn't realized he was staring at Vejiita's door before he did a double take at Bura. She wanted to do something with him? "Yeah, maybe. Sounds like fun."

It was then her turn to nod as she stepped forward, wrapping her arms around his waist and hugging him, resting her head on his chest. Yamucha's eyes grew from shock as he stared down at the girl who attached herself to him. Slowly, his arms gently went around her also from being outspread, patting her back.

"Goodnight, Bura," he whispered, giving another little yawn.

"'Night, Yamucha…" she whispered also, about to let him go when she heard a quiet _tick _and a very bright flash.

She blinked a few times, finally letting go of the man to look past him, only to see Trunks holding a camera and grinning like an absolute maniac. Very quickly, Bura felt anger surge through her whole body, _"Trunks!"_

"Eeeeh!" Yamucha let out, subconsciously covering his ears, knowing Buruma and Vejiita _had _to have heard that.

"Blackmail big time!" Trunks stated proudly, holding up the camera with glee.

"_What _is going on out there?!" Vejiita's voice came from behind the closed door.

"Oh man…" Yamucha sighed, slapping his hand to his forehead.

The door flew open, showing Vejiita wearing his white boxers and Buruma in the background, yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes, wearing a silk nightgown.

"What the hell are you three doing?!" Vejiita asked again, his eyes narrowed down more than usual, flames flying through his dark orbs.

Trunks spoke up first, still laughing loudly and joyfully, "I caught Bura and Yamucha making out in the hall!"

__

"What?!" Vejiita screamed even louder, making Buruma's eyes go wide, looking like she just went on a sugar high.

"Oh, yeah right, Trunks! You lie so bad!" Bura screamed, giving him the middle finger.

"Did you see _that, _Dad?! She so totally flicked me off!" Trunks yelled, only to show his middle finger back at her. He was still laughing from all the chaos, holding the camera close to him so she wouldn't try to steal it.

Eventually, Pan came out of one of the guest rooms down the hall, rubbing her one eye roughly, "What's with all the screaming? Don't you people know how late it is?"

"My brother's being a real ass!" Bura pointed at him, her eyes narrowed down to match Vejiita's.

"Bura, please watch the language," Buruma finally spoke up, stepping out into the hall, giving certain glances at Bura and Yamucha.

Yamucha noticed this, sweat dropping, "Uh, Buruma, really, nothing happened. Trunks is just playing around."

"I have the proof right here!" Trunks yelled, holding up the camera as though it were a prize. Finally, Pan got the joke and began cracking up, falling to the floor on her back and holding her stomach. Trunks grinned more at her, glad someone else found it amusing.

Vejiita growled at Yamucha, taking a step forward, "You were doing _what _with _my _daughter?!"

Deciding it would be best to run than to try to explain, Yamucha quickly spun around and shot off down the hall, hoping he would make it to his bedroom quickly…not that that would stop Vejiita from beating him up anyway.

He flew past Trunks, making his eyes go wide. Trunks turned around to watch him go, only for his father to run into him, making them both fall down to the floor in a heap.

"Hey, get off me!"

"Get out of my way!"

The two of them went on arguing, scrambling around on the floor like two little kids. Bura shook her head and picked up the camera that Trunks accidentally dropped, turning back to go in her bedroom, stealing a quick glance at her mom.

"We weren't doing anything, Mom. Don't believe Trunks," when she said this, Buruma's eyes relaxed, automatically believing her daughter. She nodded, walking over to her son and mate, grabbing Vejiita by the hair to pull him up.

"Hey!" he yelled, standing up so she wouldn't rip his hair out.

"Hey nothing, Vejiita. Let's just act like this whole thing was a stupid dream and go back to sleep," she demanded, pulling him into the bedroom, telling everyone goodnight before closing the door behind her.

Trunks stood up from the ground, brushing himself off as he forgot about the camera for the time being. Pan finally got a hold of herself, picking herself up with the help of the wall.

"That was just too good," Pan commented, shaking her head and laughing more.

"Really? I thought it was quite stupid," Bura shot back, making Pan realize how mad she looked. The older girl cleared her throat, stopping her laughing abruptly.

Bura sighed and went into her bedroom, closing her door. She heard Trunks and Pan do the same. She set down the camera on her dresser, plopping down on her bed, covering herself up.

"Just you wait, Trunks…I'll get you back," Bura swore before falling asleep.

------------

So, how'd you all like this chapter? ^^ I decided to make a bit of a sweet chapter, then add some humor at the end. At least…I hope it was humor. O.o; Sometimes I think I have a weird sense of humor. Please review! Oh and also…I should be starting a new fic soon and for those of you who LOVE odd couples, this will definitely be the fic for you. And I'm almost sure of that. =)


	6. All About the Picture

**__**

Visible Stranger

VI.

"Hey Yamucha, which one do you like better? This one…or this one?"

Bura held up two bikinis, one that was sparkly blue, the other one made of a thin black material, both strapless on the top piece. The bottoms were thin like, making Bura almost wonder if it would make a difference of she wore the bikini or went skinny-dipping.

Yamucha looked over in her direction, his eyes widening at the two almost nothings that Bura held in front of her, putting one in front of her, then switching to the other one, trying to give him a better image. He looked up into her eyes, noticing that her dark sunglasses went low on her nose. Her eyebrow was raised with curiosity at which one he would pick.

"What's wrong with the one you have on now?" he asked, pointing quickly to her body, moving to the side for a moment to let a couple people go past him.

She looked down at herself, clad in a very tight bikini top that was covered with seashells, showing off her cleavage to such an extent that it was no wonder why girls walking by would suddenly hit their boyfriends on the head for "no reason." She wore short shorts over top of the bottom of her bikini and high wooden sandals on her feet.

Looking back up at him, she sighed and shook her head, "I like it and all, but I've had this since last summer and it got a little tight…" she put both bikinis in one hand, grabbing the one she had on to shimmy it a bit, the whole top half of her body moving with it, "see? I have no room to breathe. I can just see myself going in the water…I'll be free of the thing before I know it!"

Yamucha looked dumbfounded that she just did and said all that she did in front of him, but quickly shook it off, now knowing that she was a very outgoing girl who wasn't afraid to tell it how it is.

"Well…I say you go with the black one then," he finally decided, motioning to it, watching as she held it up in front of herself for him to see again, "Uh-huh. That'll look great on you, Bura."

A large smile came over her luscious lips, her head lifting up to make her high ponytail brush softly against her bare back and her sunglasses go back over her eyes.

"Great! That's the one I'll get then," she nodded, putting the other one back on the rack before walking up to pay for the swim ware. 

It was the day after the whole Trunks and camera incident happened, Bura and Yamucha still remembering that they said they would do something together. She also remembered waking up and still seeing the camera lying on her vanity, laughing lightly at how forgetful Trunks could be, even when he'll be remembering the "funny" moment for awhile. She then recalled the fact that she wanted to spend her day with Yamucha, so she got up, found that he was up, and they decided to spend the day at the beach. When she realized that she needed a new swimming suit, she insisted they go to an outside plaza to look for one.

Bura also planned to do something else at this plaza. When she happened to really look at Trunks' camera, she noticed that he used up the whole roll of film, so why not help him out and get the pictures developed? She dropped the film off, planning on getting them back on their way home from the beach, since it was an instant image store.

Back to where they were now, Bura had paid for her new attire and was now in the passenger seat of Yamucha's car, letting the wind whip her hair behind her roughly. The radio was blaring with beautiful light rock music, making the ride that much more enjoyable.

They arrived at the beach shortly, Bura automatically going to the changing rooms to try on her new "seduction apparel." It was very pleasing if she did say so herself. She smirked to herself in the full-length mirror and winked behind her sunglasses before walking out onto the burning sand, running on her tiptoes with her sandals and shorts in her hands. She saw that Yamucha laid their blanket down not too far from the water's edge; just enough to leave the low tide away from them. He was then sticking the umbrella deep into the sand, tilting it the side a bit to keep most of the sun off the blanket.

"Ouch, oooo, eee, ow, ouch…" Bura chanted, still skipping from foot to foot on the blanket to cool her feet off. She dropped her shoes beside the sheet, finally being able to feel her feet slowly cool off.

Yamucha chuckled, kicking off his shoes and putting them beside Bura's. He stood standing for a moment, admiring the girl that stood before him, "Looks like I made a good choice, eh?" he hinted, winking playfully at her.

She grinned and nodded, taking her hair out of the ponytail holder and taking her sunglasses off, dropping them under the umbrella, "Sure did. Now hurry up and strip down! I'm ready to swim," she urged on, waving her hands in a motion to tell him to move it along.

He laughed again, pulling his shorts down and lifting his arms above his head to take his shirt off. Bura couldn't help but look him over quickly, abruptly being able to tell that he was a fighter.

"I'm gonna put on some sun block first," he told her, reaching in his bag to pull out a bottle of the white liquid, opening the cap, and squirting some into his palm, "I'm ready to get that perfect tan I can always get, but I'm not about to go through sunburn first."

Bura blinked twice, tilting her head to the side. She put her hands on her hips; "Did you just compliment yourself?"

He rubbed some into his arm, "Of course. I compliment myself everyday."

She grinned, deciding to play around with him a little, "Oh? I can't think of anything that you can compliment yourself on."

"Oh, believe me, Bura…" he looked up at her after sitting down to put some on his legs, "there's a lot you don't know about me then."

Not knowing why, that statement made her eyes narrow down dangerously, her hands swiping down quickly to take the bottle away from him.

"…H-hey!" he cried, hardly believing the girl was that fast…though once he thought about it, it was quite obvious that she was.

Bura was reading the back of the bottle, switching it over to the front to act like she was really observing it, "Hm…I think I should use some, too."

Yamucha shook his head, finishing with his legs to watch her do the same. He noticed how she would start with the bottom of her feet, quickly making her way up to her knees, then going dangerously slow the rest of the way up to her thighs. Her hands would jump to glide across her flat stomach, skipping again to her chest. After that, she made her arms into an 'X' to cover both of her arms. When she was finally done, he blinked, oh, probably about ten times, wondering why he was watching her every movement. He shook his head and looked down at the sand.

"You know what we have to do?" Bura suddenly spoke up, only half noticing that he was looking at her.

Yamucha looked up, scratching the back of his neck, "What's that?"

She smiled and kneeled down in front of him, reaching out to grab his hair into her hand, pulling it forward so it was in front of his shoulder, "We have to go back to the mall sometime and give you a haircut."

He moved his eyes to the right, viewing his long hair from the side view before looking back at her, looking offended, "Why? What's wrong with long hair?"

"Oh, nothing," Bura said, rubbing her fingers through the ends of his hair before dropping it to his neck, "I just saw some pictures of you with shorter, spiked hair and I love that style." She stood up and turned around, beginning to walk to the water.

Scrambling quickly to his feet, he dashed forward, his hands wrapping around her waist to lift her up with ease. He turned her around so she was facing him before throwing her over his shoulder, now walking slowly to the water.

"Yamucha?!" Bura exclaimed, her eyes wide as her body bounced with his walking pace, her eyes direct with his lower back. She began to kick her legs and thrash her arms, "Yamucha, let me down!"

She heard him chuckle, her strict demand obviously going in one ear and out the other, "No way, why would I do that?"

Okay, she knew that she could easily get away from him. After all, she was half Saiyajin, but it's not like she wanted to get away from him, therefore, why not go along with it? 

Soon enough, she heard a light splashing sound and he began to slow down even more, letting her know they entered the water. As he went further in, she was able to see the water below her, her hair almost reaching the surface when it went up to about Yamucha's knees.

And just as quickly as he picked her up, he discarded her in the water, hearing her one second scream before she disappeared under the water. He laughed when she came back up, standing to her feet immediately and spitting out water. Her eyes were still closed from the water that was sliding down over her eyelids, her long, now straight, hair matted to her neck and shoulders.

"Yamucha!" she screamed, rubbing her hands over her eyes to get the water out. Bura was finally able to squint her eyes open, Yamucha seen standing in front of her, laughing teasingly at her.

Bura lowered her eyes, jumping forward and pushing him back in the water. It was her turn to laugh when he came back to the surface, his hair matted just like hers.

**********

That was how the rest of their day went. They spent noon to about six in the evening at the beach before finally deciding they had enough fun there and went out to get dinner. Again, Bura was amazed at how comfortable he was to be around, reminiscing back on the day and how they both acted like they've been best friends for numerous years.

After they got done eating dinner, they stopped back at the plaza, picking up the pictures. Yamucha waited in his car in the parking lot since Bura said she would be right back. By then, it was a little after seven and since the place was closing at eight, not too many more people were there. The sun was going down over the horizon, as Yamucha noticed, making the sky all shades of pink, purple, blue, and yellow. He had the same light rock music on from before, the station playing the kind of love songs that could no longer be heard in that time. The kind of love songs that are so old fashioned yet so great at the same time. It made him almost wonder if people wrote down all the best ideas back then and then ran out of luck.

He got interrupted from his thoughts when he heard his car door opening and Bura sliding into her seat. He looked over to her and, after noticing she wasn't going to buckle up but look at the pictures right there, slid to the middle. Sitting right next to her, he looked down at the package they put the pictures in, waiting to see them also.

"Most of the pictures are probably gonna be pretty stupid," she warned him, knowing how her brother could be. She opened the package, setting it on her lap as she looked at the picture on top.

It was of Goten and Paresu. Bura's eyes saddened a bit when she saw Goten's arm around his girlfriend, grinning like he was the happiest man on Earth, while Paresu gave a small smile. Probably making sure she didn't look too stupid in the picture. Bura thought she still looked stupid enough in that ugly outfit that was supposedly her favorite.

She flipped two pictures, deciding to skip the double, to realize it was another picture of Goten and Paresu. Yamucha jumped and glanced at Bura when he heard a low growl emit from low in her throat. He was surprised that female Saiyajin's also did that, but he figured it was a trait in the entire now extinct race.

Actually, the next ten or so pictures were only of Goten and Paresu, going through a freeze frame drama. In one picture, they seemed like the happiest couple in the world, then in the next, Paresu seemed quite ticked off and began yelling at Goten, and then Paresu walking away, with Goten wearing a helpless look, trying to call after her.

Bura was almost happy that Goten and Paresu were always fighting, since that meant they wouldn't last very long. Almost. She also did feel bad for Goten…she didn't feel he deserved that. What kind of relationship is it when everything he says is taken as some sort of immature insult?

She finally came to a picture with Trunks grinning directly in front of the camera, probably taking a picture of himself. He was laughing at Goten for getting dumped again. After that whole "scene" was done, she came across pictures he took from the night before, when he, Pan, and Goten went to the movies. They were all goofing around, having a good time.

"See? _Booor_-ring!" Bura commented, lifting her head up a bit but not looking at the man beside her.

Yamucha only chuckled and continued to look down at the pictures as she flipped through them.

Eventually, she came to the last picture. It was the one Trunks took of her and Yamucha from the night before. From the point he'd taken it from, she couldn't help but smile. Since Trunks came out of his room with Yamucha's back towards him, it looked like two people standing in a semi-darkened hallway holding each other. Since they were hugging each other, Yamucha leaning over a bit to hold her better, it actually looked like they were stuck in a sweet kiss. So _that _was why Trunks said they were making out. It did look like it after all…

After a few more moments, Yamucha cleared his throat, "Is there any more?"

Bura snapped out of her thoughts quickly, blinking a few times before looking at him. A sudden blush appeared, feeling embarrassed about not knowing how long she was staring at the image.

"Yep, that seems to be it," she declared, flipping the first picture to the front again…which was the picture of Goten with his arm around Paresu. She looked away from it immediately.

Yamucha nodded and scooted back over to his side, starting up the car again and driving back towards Capsule Corporation. They went into a comfortable silence, enjoying listening to the radio. They both just wanted to get back and take a long hot bath to get all the salt water out of their system.

**********

Later that night, Bura was in her usual nightclothes, boxers and a spaghetti strap shirt, sitting on her bed. Again, she was flipping through those pictures. Well, she actually hardly even glanced at them as she went through them hastily…until she reached the bottom picture. For some reason, she wanted to study the picture more…get to know every little detail about it.

It was like a screen shot from a beautiful romance movie. The two lovers stood in the middle of the hall, between all the bedrooms, holding onto each other as if they were the other's lifelines. Her parents were against the two of them seeing each other…but they didn't care! Nothing could come between their love. They could have done so much more, but…

__

This is just my idea of a very good romance story that I would love to see. Bura stopped to remind herself.

…but then her parents caught them. They were very secretive though, they came up with a good excuse. Who could've imagined—

"Hey, Bura. What'cha up to?" Pan asked, pushing open her friend's door as she said this, happening to catch Bura quickly scramble to stuff something under her pillow.

Bura smiled a bit nervously, giving Pan a short wave, "Hi, Pan. I'm not doing anything, really, just getting ready for bed," she gave a big, fake yawn, "I was busy today."

Pan raised an eyebrow at her, stepping forward with her hand out stretched, "Hand it over."

Realizing that she saw that she hid the pictures under her pillow, Bura's shoulders slumped, knowing she had no way of getting out of this one. If she said "Hand what over?" Pan would only push her aside and get them for herself. She slowly reached under her, taking out the stack of pictures, quickly putting the one with her and Yamucha on the bottom again. Maybe if Pan saw that all the pictures were the same, she wouldn't even look back that far.

The older girl grinned, snatching the objects from her hands, sitting down on the bed to look through them.

"Wow…" Pan said, flipping through the first few, "Uncle Goten can probably get just about any girl he wanted and yet he chooses to stay with Paresu."

Bura pretended not to hear that as she fluffed her pillows.

Pan suddenly laughed, pointing at the pictures with her, Goten, and Trunks in them. They made innocent pedestrians take the pictures for them…and she was sure they were probably traumatized for life at some of the things they did and said.

Alas…Pan came to the very last picture. Bura noticed this, feeling her whole body overheat. Her body jumped as she quickly walked over to her dresser, beginning to brush her hair. As she looked into her own eyes, she saw how nervous she was. Why? What did she have to be nervous about…?

Again, Pan laughed, "So _this _is what Trunks saw last night, eh?" she questioned, standing up and waving the picture back and forth.

Bura blushed, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about, Bura!" Pan grinned, putting the picture right in front of Bura's eyes, "So…what do you have to say for yourself, hm?"

The blue haired girl rolled her eyes, turning away from her best friend to sit on her bed again, "I have to say that pictures now lie."

Smirking, Pan threw the picture face up on Bura's sheets, "One thing we can always be sure of, Bura, is that pictures will _never _lie."

Bura sighed, closing her eyes, "No, Pan, you really—."

"And why are you blushing so much?!" Pan interrogated, pointing accusingly at her. She suddenly gasped, covering her mouth in shock. Pan moved forward with her super speed, ending up in front of Bura's face within an instant. She grabbed her friend's shoulders, giving them a little shake, "You're not falling for _him, _are you?!"

"N-no! No way, Pan, what are you talking about?!" Bura screamed, brushing Pan off her. Her eyes were wide with shock, her eyebrows debating on whether to rise with her eyes or narrow down in anger, "I hardly even know the guy! He's practically a complete stranger!"

"Ah…but a stranger that's very visible in your eyes, eh Bura?" Pan urged, poking Bura's nose quickly before she could swat her away.

__

"NO!" Bura screamed, her hands rising to her hair to get it all tangled, giving the image that she was actually going to pull her hair out, Pan was driving her so crazy. In fact…Pan was driving her _too _crazy! Bura grabbed Pan's shoulders, turning her around and pushing her towards the door, "I think you need some sleep, Pan. Go to bed."

Pan snickered, allowing herself to get shoved out the door, "Why you getting so defensive about it?"

"I'm _not _getting defensive about it! It's just that you all are making a big thing out of something that's not even worth being called small!" Bura yelled, her hands flying everywhere to emphasize her point, "I mean, first it's Trunks and now you? Who's next? My _father?!"_

Since she said the last word louder than the rest, Vejiita happened to catch that part from downstairs, screaming a reply of, "What?!" back up.

Bura groaned loudly, "Nothing!" She briskly snatched the pictures away from Pan, glaring at her, "I'll talk to you tomorrow," was the last thing she said to Pan before slamming her door closed for the night.

----------

'Member that odd couple story I told you all about? It's up! It's called "Chaos in the Millions." ^^ Just thought I'd let ya know.


	7. Trouble At the Ice Cream Parlor

**__**

Visible Stranger

VII.

Truthfully, Bura didn't want anyone else thinking there was something going on between her and Yamucha. Deep down, she knew that they were all just joking around, trying to get her steamed and/or embarrassed, but she still didn't like the fact that they _were _trying.

So she decided to come up with a solution to this little problem of hers: Stay away from Yamucha for a couple of days. Hey, it was simple and it wasn't like she had to hang around the guy to live, right? Right.

That's when Pan came into the picture. If she couldn't hang out with her new guy best friend (though she would never openly admit that title for him), then she would hang out with her old girl best friend. It was back to the regular schedule again. Back to waking up, getting ready for the day, practically dragging Pan out of bed and pulling her to wherever she wanted to go that day. Pan didn't mind, as long as she got her fair share of the deal (an example being shopping at Hot Topic for shirts that read "I'm Not Mean! I Eat Beans!").

Fortunately, Bura's plan worked out quite well. The next four days of hanging out with Pan did make her and her brother forget all about the hallway incident, and it also calmed her father down a lot, too. He just had to find another good reason to want to kill Yamucha. Every time Bura thought about it, she had to giggle. It just seemed that much more humorous with Yamucha around Capsule Corporation.

"What's so funny?"

Bura got snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Pan's voice. The younger girl blinked a couple of times, making her mind come back down to reality. The two of them were sitting in her room looking at magazines. Bura held a fashion magazine that she wasn't even paying attention to because of her "funny" thoughts, and Pan skimmed through a guitar magazine, deciding on whether or not she wanted to spend her money on one. She knew Gohan and Videl would never buy her one and listen to her play it every night at midnight.

"Oh…nothing. Just thinking about something," Bura answered, giggling softly again. She put the magazine down on her lap, flipping the page…and then another…and then another.

Pan couldn't help but raise an eyebrow, "Since when do you not analyze every single little thing on a page?"

"Hm?" Bura looked back up at her, shaking her head to get some of her hair out of the way, "I do, but…I already looked at this magazine tons of times."

"Ooooh…well, guess that explains it," Pan replied, nodding her head. She looked back down at the page she was on, her dark eyes widening when she saw a black electric guitar with red and gold stripes shooting across the instrument, "I just _have _to get this!"

"I'm sure you do," the blue haired beauty said before sighing loudly. She really did love Pan, but they were the kind of best friends that mostly couldn't be together for more than a week before they could get tired of each other. They were just too different. They also usually knew when their time limit was up, one of them leaving and telling the other they'd see them in about three days or so.

Again, Pan nodded and jumped up from her position on the floor, "I think I'm gonna go home and see how much money I have lying around my house. That okay?"

It was Bura's turn to nod as she closed her magazine, setting it down beside her, "It's fine. I wish you luck with the money hunting."

Pan snorted, rolling her eyes, "Yeah right, Bura. I know in that little mind of yours you're saying 'Oh _please _let her be broke! I don't think I can stand her with a guitar!' …Isn't that right?"

Bura laughed and stood up, straightening her ordinary (for once) tee shirt, "You just know me too well."

"Sure do," she agreed, walking over to Bura's window, opening the screen, and flying outside. She turned around to shut the screen again, waving from the other side, "See ya later."

Bura waved after her, watching as Pan shot off into the sky. Again, she sighed and fell back on her bed, her hair flying all over her head and her hands laying at her sides.

"Now what can I do?" she asked herself, staring up at her ceiling for a few moments. She soon got bored of that, getting back up and walking over to her dresser to brush her hair. She looked down at the dresser top, spotting the stack of pictures she got about five days ago. Smiling, she made up her mind. 

"I'll go see what Yamucha's up to," she decided, setting her brush down and smiling at her reflection. She walked out of her room in her stylish tennis shoes that were heel-less and skipped down the stairs. She was kind of hungry and ice cream sounded real good right then.

She heard his voice talking from in the living room, so her legs followed to where the noise was.

"Hey, Yamucha, I was wondering if—," she cut herself off as soon as she entered the room. She saw her mom on the couch, her back towards Yamucha, who was giving her a shoulder massage.

Buruma's eyes were closed from the delight, her head making small, slow circles around her neck to help get all the kinks out. She opened her eyes when she heard her daughter, her smile growing even more.

"Hi, Honey. What are you up to? Did Pan leave?" she asked, letting out a sigh of content as Yamucha continued to move his hands around her neck and shoulders.

"Uhh…yeah. Yeah," Bura answered, trying to keep her voice from shaking. Why did she suddenly feel so…oh, she couldn't even think of a good word for what she felt. All she knew is that she didn't really like what she saw before her.

"Mm," Buruma nodded, closing her eyes again, "did Yamucha tell you he was a masseuse? And a really good one at that."

"Oh, heh," Bura's shoulders relaxed some and she let out a deep breath she didn't even know she was holding in. So Yamucha was a masseuse, huh? His job was to _give _massages, not just offer them.

The three of them got quiet for seconds, maybe minutes. It was hard to tell. Buruma looked like she was enjoying the rubdown completely, Yamucha looked in total concentration to make sure he did his job right, and Bura was just standing in the doorway, suddenly feeling very stupid.

She heard the gravity room on outside, telling her where her father was. She didn't know quite where her brother was, so…of course it would be her to walk in on the two. Wait…she made it sound like she was walking in on something "bad." It wasn't like they were doing anything wrong…

"So what did you want, Bura?" Buruma asked, her eyes once again open and staring at the young woman.

"Huh?" Bura asked, her thoughts once again getting disrupted, "Oh…I just came down to ask if Yamucha wanted to go get some ice cream with me, but if he's busy with—."

"Oh no, it's fine," Buruma said, standing up from the couch to make Yamucha's hands fall into his lap, "I need to get back to work anyway. I've been avoiding it for awhile…and apparently, so has that brother of yours," Bura's mother seemed to growl, the thought getting her agitated. However, she soon snapped out of it, throwing Bura a smile, "Well, have fun you two."

Bura watched her mother walk out of the room before turning back to Yamucha, highly noticing the look of sheer disappointment written in his eyes. Her own eyes lowered to the floor.

"Sorry, Yamucha…I didn't know—."

"Hey, it's okay," Yamucha stopped her, standing up and stretching, "it's just a good thing you walked in instead of Vejiita. Now _that _would have been hell!"

Bura laughed nervously, averting all her weight over to her right foot.

"Ice cream sounds real good, though. I'm game," he said, already heading towards the door. She followed, patting her baggy (for once) jeans to make sure she had money. Once that was affirmative, she walked out the door, him closing it behind himself.

"Do you want to just walk since it's only about three miles away?" Bura asked, walking down the sidewalk.

Yamucha nodded, stuffing his hands into his pants pockets, "Sure, sounds good to me. It's a nice evening."

Bura nodded in agreement, smiling just because. They walked in silence for awhile, listening to the sounds of the birds chirping, or people mowing the grass, or people swimming in their pools.

"So what have you been doing for the past four or five days?" Yamucha finally spoke, looking over at her from having been staring at the ground at a small rock he had been kicking.

"Nothing too much," Bura answered, suddenly putting her hair up into a low messy ponytail, "just hanging out with Pan."

Yamucha smirked at her, subconsciously running his index finger along the scar on his cheek, "So you haven't purposely been avoiding me?"

Bura blushed slightly, her hands clasping together in front of her, "Of course not. I didn't even know I was avoiding you…I mean, we've seen each other around, right?"

He laughed and shook his head, putting his arm closest to her around her shoulders, rubbing her right arm up and down quickly, "I was just kidding, Bura." Even though he dropped his arm back down to his side as soon as he got done talking, the gesture reminded Bura of what she seen not five minutes ago.

"Now it's my turn to ask a question," Bura said, nudging his side gently, "how come you never told me you were a masseuse?"

Yamucha shrugged, putting his hands back in his pockets, "The subject never came up, I guess."

"Well, I'm bringing it up now," she shot back, grinning as she tapped the side of her thighs, "how did you get into that profession?"

The man looked down at her, trying to keep a straight face, "It all started when I found out I liked to touch bodies, no matter what kind of body it was. Guys and girls of all ages would come to my house and ask me to touch them and then I finally decided to make it a profession."

Bura wrinkled her nose. As he said all that, she couldn't help but get this image of a gay, old, wrinkly, hairy man coming into Yamucha's house and laying down on his bed after striping off all his clothing. This gay, old, wrinkly, hairy man would lick his own lips and pat the bed, a little glint in his eyes saying, "Rub me down, Baby!"

"…Ew?" Bura finally said, staring up at him with semi-disgust.

Yamucha chuckled, shaking his head; "It was a joke. Actually, I don't know how I got started in it. It just…happened, I suppose," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. He continued to stare down at her.

It was at this time that Bura noticed, making her eyes search his, "What? What is it?"

His smile never ceased, "Nothing, it's just…you look really good in those casual clothes."

Bura blinked before looking down at herself, clad in her baggy tee shirt and baggy khaki shorts, feeling her messy hair on top of her head. She looked back up at him, "Really?"

He nodded and then she narrowed her eyes down playfully, "So you're saying that I don't look good in my usual attire?"

"No, no, no!" Yamucha came to his own defense immediately, holding up his hands, "That's not it at all, I'm just not used to seeing you in…well, Pan's type of clothing. It's good to know you do have a little variety."

Hearing all this, Bura showed a large smile, "Thanks, Yamucha. No one's ever said that before…all my boyfriend's always said that girl's look their best when they're wearing tons of make-up and flashy clothes."

A chuckle escaped his lips, "Well, I have to admit that when I was younger I thought the same thing. Then as I became more mature, I realized that it's the natural beauty that matters the most."

Almost unconsciously, Bura walked closer to him as he spoke. He seemed to really know what he was talking about it and she loved it…

"It's probably the main point of why every man who has a woman they truly love gets up every morning. Nothing can beat how that girl looks when she climbs out of bed…her eyes still sleepy, her hair a mess, clad in only her nightclothes," he continued, looking up at the blue sky turning pink from the evening, "watching as she clumsily makes her way around the bed and to the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face…and then still semi-clumsily makes her way back in the bedroom."

Yamucha averted his attention to the girl beside him, a small smile present on his face as he went on, "It's the same concept at night. That girl taking off all the blush and eye shadow and lipstick…it's an amazing sight to watch how she can transform. From the girl that everyone can see to that girl that only you can see. 

"And then she climbs in bed with you…" Yamucha and Bura continued to stare at each other, but it was like their eyes and minds were in a totally different zone, "Then she turns out the lights and the room is pitch black, but she snuggles up…and it's like you can still see into her dazzling…_natural_ eyes. Your life is complete, everything's perfect. All because of the morning and the night…"

As Yamucha finished his speech, Bura's eyes became misty, her hand shyly reaching out for his, "That was beautiful, Yamucha…"

"Heh…that's what happens when that's the thing you think about everyday for nearly thirty years," he replied, giving her hand a friendly, gentle squeeze.

Her eyes then saddened, "Yamucha…"

"Hey, Sis! Didn't expect to see you here."

Bura whipped her head forward, spotting Trunks waving to her with his arm high in the air. He was at the ice cream place where her and Yamucha were supposed to go, sitting at an outside table with two other people…

Her face faulted. Goten and Paresu. She sighed in defeat, figuring she might as well sit with them since she was sure Trunks would tell her to. Yamucha followed her over to the table, sitting down beside her after they pulled up two extra chairs.

"Hey, guys. How you doing?" Bura asked, resting her hands on the tabletop.

"Fine," Goten and Trunks both answered, taking a lick from their dozen scoop ice cream cones.

Paresu ran her index finger through the ice cream resting in a little round bowl, dipping her finger in her mouth to lick all the cold food off. She stared at Bura for awhile afterwards before finally glaring at the younger girl, "Well aren't you going to ask how I'm doing, too?"

"What?" Bura questioned, her eyes looking at the love of Goten's life, "I did—."

"It's kind of rude to leave someone out just because you don't know them," Paresu commented, doing another "ice cream ritual".

"But I—," Bura tried to explain.

"You only said 'hey, guys,' and I don't consider myself a guy, to tell you the truth," she looked over Bura, shaking her head, "but apparently you do."

Bura quickly looked down at herself when she realized it was the kind of clothes she was wearing. Just great, of course she would pick this day to wear something casual in front of Goten's snotty girlfriend, "No, this isn't—."

"No need to come up with excuses. All little girls go through the tomboy faze, I'm sure when you grow up you'll find someone like my Goten here," Paresu said, wrapping her arms around Goten's free arm that wasn't holding the cone, laying her head on his shoulder. Goten almost seemed like he didn't even notice the talking and the gestures.

That hit the spot. Bura's eyes flashed dangerously as she stood up, pounding her palms onto the table to make the already wobbly stand collapse. Because Paresu's bowl was right in front of her, when the table fell, so did the ice cream…all over her stupid favorite outfit. She screamed and stood up, looking down at the ice cream that plopped onto the ground after falling off her skirt, the melting milky liquid dripping down from the trim.

All three guys stared in wonderment and shock at what Bura did and what was now happening to Paresu. Goten stood up also, still eating his ice cream cone as he rushed over to get some napkins. He came back over and handed them to Paresu.

Paresu stared at the napkins in his hands, half expecting him to maybe help her out. When she realized that he wasn't, she glared at him and snatched the towels from him. She rubbed them over her dress hard, but her attire was obviously stained for the moment.

"Oh, no…" she moaned, her eyes shooting up to Bura who was still standing her ground, "You little—."

"You say anything bad about my sister and I swear you'll regret it," Trunks stepped in, now standing up from his chair.

Paresu glared at him, then sneered back at Bura, before giving Goten the evil eye, "You know what? This is all _your _fault!"

"Wh-what?" Goten asked, his voice full of innocence. 

"If you didn't have such _stupid _friends, we would never have these problems! And you know what else?" Paresu asked but answered her own question before he had a chance to answer, "You can totally forget about that date on Friday! I would never _dream _of going on a double date with Trunks and some little girl he picked up from the street!"

Trunks stepped forward again, "Would you stop calling every other girl a little girl? You make it sound like you're the only mature woman in the world! FYI, the situations are reversed."

Bura smirked, finally deciding to throw in her two cents, "Exactly! And by the way you act, I don't think you deserve Goten at all. He's too good for you, so why don't you run home to your daddy? You do still live with your parents, right Miss Mature?"

Paresu opened her mouth, shut it, opened it again, and shut it again. Finally, she just screamed and turned around sharply. Her fists were clenched at her sides as she yelled from over her shoulder, "It's over for good this time, Goten!"

"W-wait! Paresu, come back!" Goten called, taking a few steps forward. From the almost nonchalant nature in his voice, Bura could tell that Goten was used to this routine. He didn't go after her and she didn't turn around.

"There goes our double date for Friday, Trunks," Goten said, sighing with his shoulders slumping.

Trunks' face turned to that of pure horror, "B-but Goten! You know I can't handle this chick alone! You gotta come with me!"

Goten stared at his best friend for a moment before shaking his head, "Sorry, Trunks. I don't want to go there without a date when you have one."

"You can get one by Friday! Goten, admit it, you're a chick magnet! You can go up to any girl and ask them to go out with you and they will!" Trunks urged him on, running up right in front of him.

Bura had to raise an eyebrow on that one. So…Trunks finally admitted it, eh?

Goten grinned his infamous grin, "Seriously?"

"Yes!" Trunks yelled, suddenly pointing over to Bura, "Shoot, there's a girl that would say yes right there! What are you waiting for?!"

Bura blushed deeply, taking a step back, "Umm, Trunks? Keep me out of this!"

Goten's eyes looked over at Bura and she nearly melted. She never saw him look at her like that. With total hope and admiration. She watched stiffly as he made his way over to her, taking her hands in his once he was in front of her. His grin never left his face as he asked, "Wanna go on a date with me Friday?"

There went her heart. Oh, her stomach left also. She suddenly felt as though he and her were alone, without Trunks or Yamucha or anyone else around. They weren't standing beside a broken table in front of an ice cream parlor with her dressed in casual clothes…

"Bura?"

His voice saying her name brought her back down, causing her to shake her head. She smiled, rising on her tiptoes and then down to her flat feet again, "Yeah, of course! I—I mean, yes…I would love to."

Goten laughed and went over to Trunks to give him a high five, "All right, the date's still on," he turned back to Bura, giving her a short wave, "well, we gotta get going for now. See ya later!"

"Heh, heh…bye!" she called, waving high in the air. She watched them walk off for awhile before she felt someone nudge her in her side. She turned to see who it was, only to find Yamucha handing her a double scoop vanilla cone.

"Man, you sure did make a scene," Yamucha told her, licking his double chocolate cone, "I had to wait the whole time because the employee called the manager."

"She called the manager?!" Bura exclaimed, giggling a bit as she licked the top scoop and flying into the sky, "Maybe that's our cue to leave."

Yamucha chuckled also, flying up with her. They flew so high up until they could just float around in the clouds.

"How did you know vanilla was my favorite flavor?" Bura asked, taking a few more licks.

"I didn't," Yamucha admitted, "I just know it's your mother's favorite, so I assumed it was yours, too."

Bura only nodded to this, doing a few side flips, "Wanna go to the park or something? I'm not ready to go home yet."

This time, Yamucha nodded, "Sure."

----------

So…how was this chapter? ^^ I know not too much Y/Br-ness happened in this one, but believe me…the NEXT chapter will be very sweet and will get things moving along a lot quicker. OH! And if you're a Paresu fan…I'm terribly sorry for flaming her. . I just had to do something to fit Bura in for the date.

Also, hi lynnxlady! ^^ You seem to be getting pretty interested in Y/Br eh? Heheh…that's when you write one of your own! YAY!! Write one, write one, write one!


	8. The Kiss

**__**

Visible Stranger

VIII.

The next day, the first thing Bura had to do was call Pan and tell her about all her luck. All because she felt in the mood for ice cream. Of course, she didn't even bother getting out of bed until about one in the afternoon. That was the cause of staying up until six in the morning. Who could blame her? After all, her number one dream just came true. Goten asked her out on a date!

That was exactly how she began her conversation with Pan as soon as the girl entered her room from the window.

"What?" Pan chuckled, closing the screen behind her before turning back to Bura. She put her hands on her hips, tilting her head to the side, "You didn't just say my uncle asked you out on a date, did you?"

Bura nodded vigorously, her hair flying against her head, "I did! He did! At the ice cream parlor after Paresu just broke up with him! Now doesn't that tell you something?" she asked, running forward and taking Pan's hands into her own, "Goten doesn't care all that much for her if he just went after me like that, right?"

Pan quirked an eyebrow, taking her hands back into her own possession. She sat down on the bed and patted the spot next to her, indicating for Bura to take a seat. Bura took the hint and sat down, the same old giddy look never failing her face. The dark-haired girl put a hand on Bura's shoulder, getting a serious look.

"Bura…how about this question: She broke up with him tons of times. He's used to it. He goes back with her. And she doesn't mean that much to him?"

The younger girl groaned and rolled her eyes, "Pan, this is different!"

"Okay," Pan agreed for the moment, "explain to me how it's different."

"Well…" Bura began, looking around the room like that would give her some ideas, "it was the way he looked at me. I mean…his eyes had some serious passion going on in them." Saying this, her lips formed a grin.

Pan tried, but she couldn't help letting out a loud laugh, "Uncle Goten? Serious passion? Girl, I think you are _totally _delusion-al," she flicked her hand in mock preppy-ness.

"It was there!" Bura urged, bringing her one leg up on the bed to turn towards her best friend, "And the way he held my hands as he asked me out…they were so soft yet there was that roughness to them…true evidence that behind all that child's play lies a real man."

"Oh, gag me, Bura!" Pan stuck her tongue out while shaking her head, "You've been watching _way _too many romance movies."

Bura smirked, "Who knows…maybe this will turn into a romance movie."

Pan shook her head and stood up, stretching, "Well, you know the saying: Most tragedy is enacted from the game of love."

She tilted her head to the side; "I never heard that quote before…"

"I know," Pan smirked now, "I just made it up."

"Good going," Bura responded dryly.

"Oh! That reminds me…I got you something," Pan said suddenly, reaching deep into millions of pockets that were located all over her jeans, "I know it's here somewhere…"

Bura's eyes brightened as she stood up also, looking more excited than ever, "You got me something? Oooo, what is it, what is it!?"

"Ah! Here it is…" she pulled out a square key chain from her ankle pocket and handed it to her, "I thought of you as soon as I saw it."

Bura's smile never ceased as she took it from Pan and read it, "Saw it. Wanted it. Threw a fit. Got it." Her smile faded into a look of total blank, then into annoyance. She closed her eyes in frustration and clenched the small item in her fist, "Pa-_a-a-an_!"

Before Bura knew it, her face was smothered with a pillow. She heard Pan giggle before getting whacked in the face again. Bura was about to dive for another pillow to play this little game of "Pillow Fight," but Pan already put her pillow down and walked around the room to her mirror.

"So…is this date just going to be you two?"

Before Bura thought better of it, she answered this, "No, it's a double date with Trunks and some girl he picked up." As soon as she said it, she realized her mistake and covered her mouth quickly, "Oh, sorry Pan."

"Huh?" Pan turned around to face her, a look of confusion apparent in her eyes, "Sorry for what?"

"That…Trunks is going out with someone else and I'm going to be with them," Bura explained, looking down in shame, feeling as though she abandoned and let down her best friend.

Pan chuckled, "Why should you be sorry about that? Trunks and I aren't dating."

"But…you still like him," Bura responded, setting her key chain on her night table.

"Yeah, so? He's still allowed to date other people. It wouldn't seem too right if I stopped him and acted like I owned him. Besides, I'm sure interfering with his love life won't help him notice me any more."

Bura took in everything her friend just said before sighing, "I wish I had your mind, Pan."

"I'm sure you do," Pan agreed, "sure would make things a lot easier, huh?"

The blue-haired girl nodded, "Sure would…hey, wanna come shopping with me? I need to buy an outfit for Friday."

"What?" Pan asked, taking off her orange bandanna to fix it, "Didn't you just buy the whole store like…a week ago?"

"Yeah, but I didn't get anything good enough for this occasion," Bura answered like it was the most obvious answer ever, "…ya know, I think you should go awhile without your bandanna. You look really nice without it."

Pan threw her head forward to get it over her hair and tie it in the back, "You saying I don't look good with it?"

"No, no, no! I didn't mean it like that," Bura came to her own defense immediately, "I just meant that you have really nice hair and—."

"Bura, in case you haven't noticed, I'm a tomboy. I'm not out to look pretty," Pan said, lifting her head back up to show a freshly placed bandanna.

Bura only rolled her eyes, standing up and grabbing her purse from underneath her bed, "Well, ready to go then? We can take my car."

"I'm game," Pan responded, flying back out the window after lifting up the screen again. Bura sighed, wondering why Pan could never just use the door. It wasn't like the walk downstairs and outside would kill her after all. Not bothering to ask anything, however, Bura flew out the window also, closing her screen before flying down and right in the driver's seat…

Or…at least she tried to.

"Let me drive!" Pan called out, swooping down into the driver's seat before Bura even had a chance. She buckled up quickly so Bura couldn't pull her out.

Bura floated above her for a moment, staring down at her blankly. That is, until her eyes narrowed dangerously, "Pan…my car. I'm driving. Move over."

"Hey, I'm already here," Pan said, trying to persuade her, "If you wanna get to the mall, might as well be happy with the situation before it gets too late." She held her hand up, palm open, "Keys, please."

Groaning, Bura dug in her purse and threw her keys at Pan, the older girl barely catching them before they hit her between the eyes. Bura plopped down in the passenger side, throwing her purse on the floor. She barely even buckled up before Pan turned the key in the ignition, put the car in reverse to get out of the driveway, then shot forward down the street.

"Gees! Pan, is there really any need for this speed?!" Bura yelled over the whipping of the wind that smacked her in the face. Her right hand clung to the door while the other was clenched in her lap.

"Yeah, why wouldn't there be?" Pan shouted back, pressing her foot down a little more on the gas pedal.

Bura closed her eyes, not wanting to see where Pan was going, "Well, if a cop pulls us over, you better pay the speeding ticket!"

"Fine, fine. Whatever," was Pan's only response as she leaned back in her seat, lifting both of her arms high into the air, the wind never ceasing on the whipping, "_Whoo-hoooooo!! _This is fun, huh Bura?!"

"_Pan!_" Bura screamed loudly, people they were flying by not being able to decipher whether it was a cry of horror or of enjoyment, "Keep your hands on the wheel, would you?!"

Pan only laughed loudly as she did so, making a sharp turn that lead them out onto the long stretch of highway. She saw that it was mostly empty, so she pressed down on the gas a little more before putting it on cruise so she could take her foot off the pedal. She turned the steering wheel straight, putting on really loud rock music, then threw her arms back up in the air again.

"This is so great!" Pan hollered over the wind, steeling a quick glance over at her friend…who still looked a little terrified but seemed to be calming down once she realized that Pan was in total control.

Bura laughed nervously at first before letting it turn into a chuckle. Before the blue haired beauty knew it, she was laughing with just as much enigma. She threw her head back and lifted her arms in the air also, now very happy Pan thought of this little idea.

__

Beep, beep!

Pan opened her mouth immediately and noticed that about four cars were around her, not sure what to do with the crazy car that was speeding down the highway. Of course, they were driving so fast, they were only about ten miles away from the mall, so naturally, there was more traffic there.

"Oh, shit!" Bura yelled instinctively as she clung back onto the car door, watching as Pan pressed down on the stop pedal, swerving sharply out of the way of some stopped cars that were at a red light. The car spun around a couple of times before it came to a complete stop in the middle of the lanes.

Smoke poured out of the engine, the whole car overheating from the quick speed then the sudden stopping. The two girls sat there for who knows how long, too shocked to do much. Finally, they looked over at each other. They only stared at each other for no more than five seconds before bursting into loud fits of giggles.

Of course, that all got put to rest when they heard the police sirens coming towards them…

**********

About three hours later, Pan and Bura ended up at a fast food joint, grubbing on some burgers and fries. Yes, they did get pulled over and stopped by the cops…even though their car was already stopped. He asked them all the unoriginal questions, such as "May I see your license?" "Does this car belong to you?" "Are you aware that you were driving well over thirty miles above the speed limit?"

Well, duh!

They did get off with just an extreme warning, however. Two young and beautiful teenage girls can have that effect on someone.

"So, did you get what you were looking for?" Pan asked before taking a large chunk out of her double burger meal.

Bura nodded while taking a sip of her iced tea, "Yep, I think that outfit I picked out will be totally perfect for Friday night. Goten will be _drooling _over me!" She ate three fries at once.

"Well, gee…aren't you the confident one?" Pan asked sarcastically, looking around the restaurant. She was watching people closely as they came and went.

Bura noticed this and couldn't help but asking, "Umm…something particular you're looking for?"

Pan grinned before setting her burger down and leaning forward, closer to Bura. Impulsively, Bura leaned forward also, curiosity clouding her senses.

"Do you think if I pick out a good-looking guy, I can take him on the date, too?"

Blinking, Bura sat straight up again, "What?"

"You know…" Pan went on, explaining more, still watching people out of the corner of her eye, "It'll be like a triple date. It's not like I want to invade or spy on Trunks or anything like you're probably thinking…"

Bura looked down while blushing, Pan hitting the nail right on the head.

"I just wanna see how you and my uncle make out. Literally or not."

She blushed more, the red hue invading her whole face. She slid her hands together nervously, though a huge smile that she couldn't hide was very apparent, "Pan, really…you make it sound like you're just gonna sit there and watch _us _the whole time."

"Who knows…" Pan questioned, sitting back up and looking around, "maybe I will. But in the mean time, do you need anything else?"

Bura thought about it for a moment, "Hm…I don't think. I'll probably just wear my hair down and wear the earrings Yamucha got me," she paused to push her hair behind one of her ears to show Pan what she meant.

Pan was taking a long drink of her soda, but spit it all out on her tray when she heard what Bura said. The younger girl looked at her tray in disgust and she also couldn't help but notice that other people were looking to see what was going on.

"Umm…mind me asking what that was for?" Bura asked, getting a handful of napkins and setting them on the table over top of the pop that spilled.

"Did you just say the earrings that _Yamucha _got you?!" Pan inquired.

"Uhh…yeah?" Bura answered very uncertainly.

Pan opened her mouth in a large smile and a silent scream, waving her hands wildly by her head. Bura only gave her a stranger look at Pan's unusual (even for her) behavior. Pan calmed herself down a little, smirking and shaking her head.

"Wow, Bura…I knew you liked older men, but…!"

"What?!" Bura yelled, getting the point immediately, "I don't think so, Pan! This was just a thank you gift! It's not like he handed them to me and told me he was head over heels for me!"

"Well…" Pan's voice faded out, still teasing.

Bura shook her head, "Never mind. Just forget it."

Pan only shrugged, continuing with her eating and looking for that one hot guy that caught her eye. Bura knew that she was still blushing, and the fact that Pan mentioned that Yamucha might like her just made her all the more embarrassed. It wasn't like she was in love with him or anything like that, but she always gets a little uneasy when people talk about her getting with someone that she likes. He was like her new best friend after all.

And he went out with her mom, for Kami's sake! Not that that mattered…she always thought that silly things should never come between love. But it was still the fact of the matter.

Goten was her brother's best friend. Same difference. Didn't matter. She was planning on giving him the time of his life Friday night and she was determined to get him to notice her in more ways than one. Bura could already picture how it'll be. In the movie theater, all six of them sitting in a straight row, all in the back. Her and Goten would be sitting next to each other and whenever there's a scary part (she was just assuming it was a horror movie since that's their specialty), she would cling to him. He would grin that famous grin of his and wrap his arms around her, holding her close.

Bura could feel a large smile spreading over her lips as she stared off into space.

She would slowly lift her head to look into his eyes…and he would stare back. They would smoothly move together, their lips joining for the…

"Oh no!" Bura suddenly screamed, scaring herself out of her daydream. 

Pan also jumped, her eyes widening at her friend's sudden outburst, "What? What did you forget?"

Bura's eyes frantically turned to her, "The kiss…"

"Huh? The kiss? What kiss?" Pan questioned, throwing all her garbage on the tray that was soaking wet.

"The kiss!" Bura yelled like it should be the most obvious thing to Pan, "The kiss I'm supposed to give Goten! Pan…he's probably totally experienced and I hardly even got a minute kiss with the guys I've been with!"

Right away, Pan began laughing as she used her powers to lift the tray up with her mind, dump the garbage in the trash can, and lay the tray on top. No one happened to see this except a little eight year old girl who tried telling her mother who, of course, just told her she had a nice imagination.

"Bura, you worry about the silliest things, you know that?" Pan told her, resting her chin in her hand, her elbow set on the table.

"It's not silly!" Bura argued, putting her hand to her mouth, "I don't wanna seem like an amateur!"

Pan giggled, "Practice with one of your dolls."

Bura threw her fries at Pan, obviously very frustrated, "Oh man…now I'm gonna get all worked up."

The dark haired girl shook her head, "You know, if you're not worrying about one thing, then it's another. You worried for Kami knows how long for the day that Uncle Goten would ask you out. He did, so now you're worried about how to kiss him. Next thing, it'll be whether he'll propose to you or not."

Bura's eyes brightened from that comment, "You think that could actually happen?"

Pan only shook her head again before standing up and holding her finger up, telling Bura to wait a minute. Bura watched as she walked over to a table filled with a group of guys. She covered her mouth to hide her astonishment, not believing what her eyes were showing her. Pan walked up to the group very confidently, slapping her hands down on the table roughly.

As far as what Bura saw, Pan was mostly after the guy with the ocean green hair and emerald green eyes. He was looking up at her with much interest, keeping his cool by often biting into his burger and leaning back on his chair.

The guy nodded, giving her a thumbs up as one of his friends gave him a pen. He wrote something down before Pan turned around sharply and walked back towards Bura.

"Ready to go?" Pan asked when she reached their table.

Bura only nodded, throwing her stuff away and following Bura out the door.

"Hey! Keiichi has some good looking friends, ya know!" the two females heard one of the guys call out, most likely directing the statement in Bura's direction. Bura couldn't help it. She turned her head slightly to the side, smiled and winked, before walking outside. From inside, the guys could be heard screaming victory "Yeah" 's! and giving each other high five's. 

**********

It was later that night, around eight-thirty, and Pan had left Bura again to train outside with Vejiita and Trunks. Bura didn't mind, she had plenty of time to think now that she got some peace and quiet.

"How am I going to kiss him?!" she yelled out loud to her stuffed doll that she held in her hands. She shook it slightly to make the legs and arms fling every which way. Looking down at the doll, she had to throw it to the side when she found herself even considering making out with her doll for practice.

She groaned and circled her room, "I don't even know why I'm so worried about it! It probably won't even happen anyway!"

Looking down at her vanity, she again saw all the pictures that she got developed from her brother's camera that he still didn't notice she took. Not knowing what else to do, she picked the pile up and sat back on her bed.

Bura flipped threw them until, once again, she came across the picture that showed her and Yamucha wrapped up in an embrace. She didn't know why she took a great liking to the image, but in any case, once she began looking at it, she had a hard time stopping.

"Maybe…Yamucha can help me…" she said quietly, blushing even from the thought. She slowly and gently ran her fingertips across the picture she took a fancy to, letting a small smile play her lips. 

She didn't even know the main reason why she needed practice! She knew she was a good kisser…or at least hoped so. Is there even such a thing as a bad kisser?

No, just an inexperienced one. Something she didn't want to be.

And Yamucha certainly wouldn't be inexperienced at kissing, right?

Right.

Before thinking more on the subject, she put the pictures down on her bed and walked out of her room and down the long hallway, hoping Yamucha was in his room. If he wasn't, the long walk to the other side of Capsule Corp. would be a huge waste.

All the way there, she kept going over what she would say to him and how she would present the "problem" at hand. Actually, she got there quite quickly, considering.

She stood in front of his closed door, resting her body against it to hear something— anything— from inside. She closed her eyes, suddenly feeling very nervous, wondering what the heck she was doing at Yamucha's bedroom door, about to ask him for some kissing help.

__

Tap, tap.

Bura had a hard time believing she was the one that made those two taps on his door. Soon enough, she heard an answer from inside, telling her to come in. Sucking in a deep breath, she turned the doorknob and peeked her head in.

"Oh, hey. What's up, Bura?" Yamucha asked, sitting on his bed and reading a book. He marked his page by putting a bookmark in the book, setting it aside before throwing his legs over his bed to rest them on the floor.

"Umm…nothing too much," she began, stepping in and closing the door gently behind her, "I just have a bit of a…problem."

__

Oh man, please tell me I am not _doing this!_

"Problem? Well…have a seat and tell me about it," he responded, patting the seat next to him on the bed. Cautiously, uncertainly, she did so, only sitting on the very end of the bed.

Bura took a deep breath. Even though she should feel so nervous that she could pass out any second, she actually felt comfortable enough to go on…just very tentatively.

"You remember how Goten asked me out on a date yesterday?"

"Uh-huh."

"And you know how much I like him?"

"Yep."

"Well, my problem is…"

"…Yes?"

Bura closed her eyes, "I want to please him, but I never really kissed before." She said it quickly enough, but it felt like time was going in slow motion. Would he laugh at her?

"Oh, is that it?"

Her eyes snapped open, a look of bewilderment crossing her face as she stared at him, "What do you mean "is that it?" Yamucha, I'm really self-conscious about this!"

He chuckled softly, patting her hand that gripped the blankets, "Okay, okay, sorry, Bura. So that's your problem. How did you want me to help?"

Bura bit her bottom lip, her eyes showing off everything he needed to know. Sitting there, Bura felt very childish and hopeful, wondering how Yamucha would react to her request.

His eyes widened, "Whoa! …whoa…" was the most he was able to get out. He looked away from the young girl momentarily, down at the carpet and his bare feet, "That's one thing I sure wasn't expecting tonight…"

Bura sighed, beginning to stand up, "Never mind. It was a bad idea, I—."

"No, wait," Yamucha stopped her by grabbing her wrist in his large hands. Bura looked down at the connection for a moment before looking back up into his face. Was he actually considering it?

"…Yes?" Bura urged him on, prudently sitting back down.

Yamucha looked back down at the carpet, wondering if it would be wrong or not. Buruma or Vejiita could just come barging in at any moment, so what if got caught kissing their daughter?

"It wasn't a real kiss. I was just showing her something."

Ha! Even though it would be true, it sounded too fake.

He looked back up at the expectant girl, "If it's for love," he smiled softly.

A large, toothy smile made its way to Bura's lips as she threw her arms around his waist in a tight bear hug, "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Eh heh…" he awkwardly rested a hand on her back, "my pleasure."

Bura hung on to him for a little longer before letting him go, a more serious look present in her features. Feeling the mood change slightly, her muscles tensed and her breath got caught in her throat.

"Umm…okay, the first thing you need to do is relax. You're not going to get anywhere if he thinks you're nervous around him," Yamucha informed her, rubbing up and down her arms.

She nodded, letting her shoulders slump to show him that she wasn't so rigid. He nodded then, telling her that was good.

"Now, at the beginning, you can have closed lips, it's how most start out. Then you can go into the parted lips," Yamucha felt slight perspiration form on his eyebrows, "tongue isn't really needed, it just gives the kiss more passion."

Again, Bura nodded. She knew all this stuff he was telling her, she just needed to know how to do it _directly. _She wasn't about to interrupt him though. If it lightened the mood enough, why not let him explain what they're going to do? Another half of her just wanted to get it over with. After all, there was no turning back now.

"Okay, so…you ready?" Yamucha asked and she could hint the nervousness in his voice. Probably just scared that her father would catch them. She was even scared of that!

Another nod. For some reason, she could produce no words, only movement.

"'Kay…" she heard him breathe out before watching as he slowly inched his way closer to her. Wait…did she want this?! After all…this would be her first real kiss! No, wait again…this wasn't a real kiss! It didn't count! Everything was all right…

His lips were on hers. Her eyes widened slightly as she watched him, his eyes closed and narrowed down in concentration. Her lips were tightly pursed together, not moving along with his at all. That's what she should be doing though…in order to make a kiss work, both partners had to get into it.

Gradually, her eyelids closed also, her mouth pressing just a little more to liven the kiss up. Her lips slid over his, her head tilting slightly to the side so their noses wouldn't get in the way of anything.

He really was a good kisser! Just thinking this made her press a little more, surprised that she was actually enjoying this as much as she was. And who ever said learning had to be a big downer?

Before she knew it, Yamucha pulled away, his hands now noticeably on her hips. He opened his eyes to see Bura's eyes open at a leisurely pace, their eyes locking the instant after.

He smirked a little, letting out a soft breath, "That was good, Bura. Just don't hold back so much at the beginning. Most guys will think you don't want—."

Heck with whatever else he had to say. Bura knew she could do a lot better than that and she wanted to prove that to him. She moved closer to him and let her lips meet with his again. He made a trivial moan of surprise from this action, immediately kissing her back. Subconsciously, Bura's hands slid up his arms and to his shoulders, parting her lips slightly like he mentioned earlier.

Light smooching sounds began as their heads turned from side to side every once in awhile, leaning against each other to balance themselves. Soon enough, however, Yamucha pulled away, their lips almost seeming like they weren't ready for a breath yet.

This time, he let out a long breath, looking back into Bura's flustered face, "Wow…that was really good, Bura. I know Goten will be—."

Again, Bura shut him up by lip locking once more. He tried speaking her name within the kiss, but it only came out as a muffled incoherent word. Bura leaned against him more this time, her fingers sliding their way to the back of his neck.

"Mmmm…" they both moaned out lowly in unison, Yamucha's eyes finally closing again. His hands remained on her hips the whole time, until this moment when he was able to snake his arms around her flat stomach, her curvy sides, and to her lower back.

Were any thoughts running through their heads? Yes, but too many to actually make any sense of. It wasn't like they were totally concentrating on how well the other was doing on the kiss either, because as far as they were concerned, it was perfect.

"Bura? Hey, Bura, you around?" they both suddenly heard Pan out in the hallway, making her way closer to his bedroom. The doorknob twisted from the outside and before Yamucha could even blink, Bura was out of his arms and out of sight all together. He looked around, still trying to make sense of the situation.

Pan opened up Yamucha door, peeking inside and looking around. She noticed Yamucha on the bed, "Hey, have you seen Bura around? I can't find her anywhere. I can't sense her ki right now."

His eyes darted all around the room, trying to figure out where the girl with blue tresses went to, "I…umm…" he stood up and looked around, almost losing his balance as he did so.

"Are you…okay?" Pan couldn't help but ask, looking at Yamucha like he was drunk.

"I…yes," Yamucha finally got his act together as he stood straight up and stood still, "I'm fine. And no, I haven't seen Bura. Sorry."

Pan sighed and shook her head, closing his door again and leaving without another word. Yamucha blinked a couple more times, plopping back down on his bed.

"Is she gone?" he heard a whisper from out of nowhere.

He jumped off the bed again and looked around, "Wh-what?" He then saw aqua eyes peek out from around the corner in his private bathroom, the tips of her fingers resting over the side.

"Pan, is she gone?" Bura whispered again, this time a little louder once she saw for herself that Pan wasn't around. She came out from the bathroom, her face unusually pale yet very flustered at the same time.

Yamucha looked at her like he never seen the girl before, watching her closely as she walked to the middle of the room, her arms crossed under her chest. They both stood there in silence, not knowing what would be the appropriate thing to say.

"Well…maybe I should appear out of nowhere and see what Pan wants before she gets my dad in the hunt…" Bura said lowly, letting out an obviously forced chuckle.

"Heh…yeah," Yamucha agreed, running his hand back through his ponytail-ed hair.

Bura nodded, not moving immediately. Did she want something else? Something more? It was hard to tell, but soon enough, she walked towards the door, calling a goodnight to him before disappearing on the other side.

Yamucha, again, stood motionless for the longest time. Finally, he fell back on his bed sideways, his hands covering his face in shame for what he did.

And for how much he enjoyed it.

-------------

Sorry for the long awaited chapter. ^^ Guess I got a little bit of writer's block for awhile. But it is a long one, ne? =D I hope you enjoyed it as much as Yamucha did. ::giggle:: Well, please review and tell me what ya think! I'll try to have the next chapter up sooner.

Anyway, the other day I was watching Maury and he had these guests on the show and…this 42 year old woman married this 14 year old boy. People were all booing it and crap, but I actually found it quite sweet. I hate it when people think of age…shouldn't that be the least of everyone's worries? Oooo, that makes me so mad!


	9. The Date dun dun dun!

**__**

Visible Stranger

IX..

Friday came before Bura knew it and, quite truthfully, she was one nervous wreck. She could already hear her brother and Goten downstairs, even though it was only around four and they weren't supposed to leave until seven-thirty. But Goten found that he had nothing better to do in the meantime and decided to hang out with Trunks to pass time.

__

Isn't Goten supposed to be at his house getting ready though? He's supposed to come to Capsule Corp. and pick me up when it's time to go. This doesn't feel like a real date at all and it hasn't even started! Bura argued angrily in her mind, looking at the outfit she was planning on wearing that laid perfectly on her bed. She was beginning to have her doubts on the thing that she bought a couple days ago.

It was a short black dress made with spaghetti straps. It had a silver belt that went with it, supposed to cling tightly around the waist to make the dress seem almost like a two-piece. She picked out her black boots that went up to her shins to go along with it, also choosing some of her golden looped bracelets to wear for some decoration. Bura already planned on wearing the earrings Yamucha got her, which were currently in her ears.

It all seemed a bit too formal now. Trunks and Goten were downstairs dressed in their everyday clothing, loose pants and a plain T-shirt. Pan managed to invite herself along since she found that guy the other day at the fast food joint, making the outing a triple date. And Bura knew for a fact that Pan would dress in her everyday attire. From what she made out of…Keiichi was it?…he'll be dressing the same way she saw him, also. She wasn't even sure who Trunks' date was, so she couldn't make an assumption on her.

Bura slumped down on her dresser chair. She didn't know why, but she wasn't looking forward to this date as much as she thought she would. Maybe she was just getting cold feet, she couldn't tell for sure, but she was hoping that was all it was. Or maybe it was an omen. Something unknown was telling her not to go, for only the worst will happen.

She groaned, "Get a grip," she scolded herself. She spun around once on the chair with wheels, now looking directly into her mirror. She quickly noticed how nice her hair looked and how creamy her skin looked. One would think she would have a bit more confidence in herself…and she did, really…just not when it came to Goten. Bura wasn't quite sure why she was always so nervous around him.

Her eyes soon came in contact with the earrings she wore. Subconsciously, her hand reached up to play with one of them. Now with Yamucha on the other hand…she felt relaxed enough to say almost anything around him. She wasn't quite sure what it was about him that made her feel so at ease.

Though…she did notice that they haven't spoken to each other in the past three days. Ever since that…kiss they shared. Bura tried to tell herself over and over that she didn't have anything to worry about. It wasn't a real kiss. It was a practice kiss…

__

I never knew practice could be so wonderful. And that was always the unwanted thought that popped into her mind afterwards. She tried to block her mind from thinking that, but it was fruitless. She wouldn't let herself believe she was falling for the much older man. Ohhh no…there was no way that was happening. The reason she believed she thought it was so wonderful was, simply, because it was. Yamucha was a great kisser and he actually complimented her that she was the same. It made her feel good about herself.

He made her feel good about herself.

Unlike Goten, who only made her feel low about herself.

But she couldn't blame her immature-ness on Goten. It wasn't his fault she was always so nervous. It was her damn hormones that seemed to flare wildly whenever she thought of him.

It was then that Bura happened to notice that Pan was standing behind her. She caught the other girl's eyes inside the mirror, seeing the sadness in them. Bura had to blink a couple of times, turning around in her chair to stare at Pan. 

"Pan? What's the matter?" She asked her best friend, standing up and slowly walking closer to her. Never before had Bura seen Pan looking so dispirited before. She was the kind of girl that was also bouncy and tried to look on the bright side of things, even in the worst situation.

"Nothing's wrong with me," Pan replied, her eyes going from remorseful to worry, "I'm just suddenly worried about you."

"Me?" Bura looked taken aback, and she had reason to be. Why was Pan worried about her? And most importantly, when did Pan ever worry about her? Pan always was the type to let her get over her problems, for she knew she would eventually. Pan didn't want to get involved in any "teenage crisis" fit that Bura took when, most likely, it'll pass within a week's period.

Pan nodded once, almost in annoyance, "Yes, you! The way you…and how you…and…everything!" For once, Pan did not know how to word what she was trying to say. She threw her hands up in frustration, plopping down on the bed beside Bura's outfit.

"…Pan?" Bura walked up to her and put her hand to her forehead, "Are you okay?"

Pan sighed and swatted Bura's hand away, "I just told you, _I'm _fine. But Bura…I'm just gonna get right to the point. You know as well as I do that nothing good is gonna come out of this date tonight. Uncle Goten's not just going to magically fall head over heels for you and you guys are not going to have this so called 'perfect evening.' Nothing…Bura." She shook her head and stood from the bed again, going around Bura to stand in front of the dresser, facing away from it.

"And then you're gonna go into this depression thing over something you knew all along, and I don't want to see that!" Pan raised her voice a bit to show that she was completely serious at the moment.

Bura watched and listened to Pan every single second, her eyes wide that this whole conversation suddenly came about. Since when did Pan suddenly appear in her room and begin to lecture her on something…like this! It just didn't seem Pan-like.

To try to lighten whatever mood began, Bura let out a low, unsure chuckle, "Pan, I don't know what you're talking about…"

"For the past three or four days, you've had this certain look in your eyes. I usually ignore it, as you know, but…it's getting really annoying, Bura! You gotta try to see this from my point of view." Pan then walked over to the window, not seeming to be able to keep still.

"And believe me, nothing irks me more than when I have to say stuff like this to you. It makes me feel all…old and moralistic and crap," Pan wanted so badly to smirk at that moment, but held it back for the sake of both of them. "But seriously, Bura…if you really think that this date is going to go that badly that you have to get this nervous over it, don't go."

Bura's eyes grew even more, "Say what?!" she screamed, throwing her hands up in front of her as if defending herself, "No way, Pan. You totally got the wrong impression on the whole thing and…and I can't just back out of it now! I've been waiting six years for this moment!"

"I know!" Pan shot back, throwing her arms up again, "and that's exactly what worries me! And I _hate_ worrying! You're going to end up getting hurt and then you'll feel like those six years were a total waste! And I'm sure that's not a very good feeling."

"What brought this up, anyway?" Bura asked after a few moments of silence. Pan was using this time to catch her breath in case she had to say more and let everything she already said sink in.

"The fact that we're going to be leaving in a couple of hours. I know you knew…but I just thought I'd make it clearer to you…"

Bura stared at her best friend for another moment, about to open her mouth to inquire as to what she meant by that.

Pan cut her off, however, "Anyway, I better get back downstairs. I left my date down there to get to know Uncle Goten and Trunks better, so hopefully they didn't scare him too much." Leaving Bura with a good-hearted chuckle, Pan exited the room, her footsteps being heard as she went down the stairs.

Bura was left standing in the middle of the room where Pan had left her. Now that…was an experience that would haunt Bura for awhile. Pan…trying to give her a heart to heart, helpful talk? Since when did the Earth stop spinning?

She wasn't quite sure why, but she suddenly felt angered. Her brows lowered down as she stared at nothing in particular. She stormed over to her bedroom door and slammed in shut, walking back over to her bed to stare down at the black dress.

"You're wrong, Pan, sorry to break it to you." Bura said lowly as though Pan were still standing right beside her. She began to undress, now ready to change into her date attire, "Something good is going to come out of this night. You'll see."

**********

Two hours came and went, Bura occupying herself the whole time with getting ready and mentally insulting Pan. She knew one way to change everyone's opinion on her…change her attitude completely. She would act completely and utterly confident on her date, not making a fool out of herself whatsoever around Goten. That should surely get Goten to notice her.

And as she looked at herself at exactly seven-oh-two, she knew her new attitude would definitely go better with her looks than her old self. She gave a cocky smile to herself in the mirror and turned to the side, making herself lose that nervous, innocent sparkle.

"Go get 'em, girl," she spoke to herself unwaveringly, winking one of her ocean blue eyes at the mirror.

Bura walked out of her bedroom, shutting her light off behind her. As she began to descend the stairs, she took on a slower gait, making sure her foot was on each step for a minimum of three seconds before taking the next one. Once she got closer to the first floor, she could make out the voices of Goten, Trunks, Pan, her date, and who she assumed to be Trunks' date.

Goten happened to be facing the stairs as she made her way, so he was the first to see her, "Hey, c'mon, I wanna get there early so we can get the best seats."

Bura was about to falter in her little act, but kept telling herself to keep her cool. To keep her mind off of each step she took and Goten, she looked around at the rest of the group. As she assumed, all the one's she knew were dressed in street clothes, but she had to admit, it made her feel a bit better when she saw that her brother's date was dressed up like she was.

She finally reached the end of the stairs and walked over to the group, one foot in front of the other. With the confidence she didn't even know she could come up with, she directly went over to Goten and looped her arm around his, "Ready when you are."

Bura tried not to notice the weird looks Goten, Trunks, and especially Pan was giving her.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" she asked, trying to get her voice to sound lower and more seductive as she gently yet urgently began tugging Goten towards the door, "Can't miss the chance to get those famous back seats, now can we?"

"Uhh…no," Goten chuckled, "No, of course not. She's right, you guys. We better get a move on!"

Bura felt herself smirk. That was the first time Goten ever said something like that about her. 

__

So far, so good…

All six of them got to the movie theater in record time, still having about fifteen minutes before the movie was due to start. Each of the guys paid for his date…even though Pan tried to put up a bit of a fight about that. Bura felt quite flattered that Goten actually paid for her…she thought he would be the one to "forget" his money and depend on her.

"Get out of my way!" Bura suddenly heard Pan scream, making her heard turn sharply to see what was going on. She saw the tomboy over in the arcade section, pushing someone off of a bike just then. Needless to say, that poor human teenage boy didn't stand a chance as he was thrown cleanly off the bike.

"C'mon Keiichi! Let's have some fun!" Pan yelled over to her date, patting the bike next to her that apparently went together to make it as some kind of race.

"Eh…?" A lot of sweat drops appeared on the boy with ocean green hair, his eyes showing a bit of fright. Bura couldn't blame him…he probably thought that he would do something wrong and Pan would punch him out the window. Just standing there wasn't going to help him any, so he hurriedly made his way over to Pan.

Goten turned in her direction, holding a couple containers of popcorn. He was just about to enter the theater their movie was playing in, "You don't have time to play, Pan! Let's go in!"

Pan yelled back just as she was putting two quarters in the machine, "Ooops, too late now," she quickly turned back to her uncle with a gleam in her eyes, "don't wanna waste fifty cents, ya know how it is. But save two seats, okay?"

Bura watched in slight amusement as Goten simply rolled his eyes and entered the theater behind Trunks and his date, whom Bura did still not know the name of.

"Yes, the back seats are empty!" Goten screamed just as the lights began to dim, making the rest of the people in the theater jump. Half of them turned around to loudly "shhh!" him before being satisfied.

Of course, Goten ignored them all easily enough as he made his way sideways to his desired seat. Bura noticed that there were eight seats in the back, and as Trunks and his date moved over to the end two, Goten made sure to leave a seat in between the girl and him. Bura unconsciously bit her bottom lip as she reached down to lower her seat, straightening her dress with her other hand to sit down comfortably. The other two end seats were reserved for Pan and Keiichi.

"Here you go," Goten said when she was situated in her seat, handing her the second bag of popcorn.

"Thank you," Bura said quickly, taking the bag from him. She then remembered her little deal with herself and suddenly sat up straighter, making sure to look directly at the screen and only eat one piece of popcorn at a time, chewing it thoroughly before eating another.

**********

Yes, the date was going much better than what she had originally expected. She didn't feel nervous when the lights got dimmer for the start of the movie; she didn't feel nervous when Pan finally came in to take her seat and gave Bura an unsure look; she didn't feel nervous when there was a sex scene playing just like every other horror movie had; she didn't feel nervous when a part made her jump enough to hide her face in Goten's shoulder; and she didn't even feel nervous when she felt Goten's arm wrap around her.

Everything was going so perfect Bura almost had to wonder if it was all a dream.

The movie was reaching its climatic point as the hero and heroine just made up a good plan on how to get the killer when she felt something touch her chin. She flinched a bit, not expecting to feel that, but felt her eyes widen and her heart quicken when her head was turned towards Goten. She looked into his eyes…to which she could honestly say she could not read. All she knew was that he was bringing her face closer to his, his eyes closing to get ready for the gesture that was to come. 

Out of instinct, Bura closed her eyes also, feeling Goten's lips upon hers sooner than what she had expected. Just as she thought, Goten was an experienced kisser, gliding his lips over hers in perfect rhythm.

Behind her, she heard Pan let out a loud "No way!" and Bura just had to assume that the one-quarter Saiyajin caught her and her uncle making out. In response to that, she heard her brother exclaim a "Whoa!" before the rest of the audience couldn't take it anymore and did another loud "shhh!"

Louder than anything else, Bura heard the dramatic music on the movie, indicating that something extreme was about to happen. Then the heroine screamed, a chain saw sounded, and some kind of body limb was sawed off. She heard some of the girls in the audience making disgusted sounds as the guys cheered the scene on.

And then the kiss was over. She felt Goten pull back, so she did the same. When she opened her eyes, she saw Goten in a whole new light and, she had to say, the new emotion that seemed stronger than the last scared her.

Bura managed to see Goten give her a small smirk before sinking a bit lower in his chair and turning his attention back to the movie. Bura stared at him a couple more seconds, blinked, and then turned back to the movie, totally stunned and amazed.

************

The movie was over. The six of them stood outside. And that was it. Literally.

Trunks' date gave him a good slap across the face, "You jerk!" she screamed before stomping off down the opposite end of the street.

Bura raised an eyebrow as Trunks held a hand up to his cheek, wondering what in the world he did to deserve that.

"Ah…well, I better get going, Pan. It was…nice seeing you again. Really. But umm…I may not be around for awhile, so you don't have to waste your time trying to get a hold of me," Keiichi said all in one breath, all the while taking step after step backwards. When he was finally done, he gave a short wave over his shoulder and walked away quickly.

They all blinked and looked at each other and for some reason, that was when Bura noticed that Goten's arm was still around her. 

How ironic for them two to be the only couple left…

"Paresu!" The man beside her suddenly called out, the arm that was around her leaving her abruptly. Bura watched as Goten quickly made his way over to none other than Paresu who just so happened to be walking down the sidewalk across from the theater.

Bura, Trunks, and Pan all saw Paresu continue walking as though she didn't even hear Goten, turning her head away. And they all continued to stare as Goten jumped in front of her, spoke a few words, and handed her something small. After that, they saw Paresu give him an inquisitive look, then a smile as she took the object, followed by her arms wrapping around his neck. The happy couple continued to walk down the sidewalk together without a single look back.

The trio was silent for a good two minutes.

"Sure didn't expect that one…" Trunks commented drying and sarcastically.

"That's for sure…" Pan added, finally looking towards Bura, her breath held tightly in her throat, "…Bura?"

Bura blinked a couple of times, as though getting out of whatever trance she was in, and turned towards Pan, "Yes?"

"Are you…ya know…okay?" Pan asked a bit awkwardly, scratching the side of her face with her index finger.

The blue-haired girl nodded slowly, her eyes seeming a bit misty as she stared at nothing, "Yeah…I'm fine."

Without another word, Bura began to make her way down the street where Trunks' car was, her boots making a light padding sound over the cement concrete. She almost unconsciously heard Trunks and Pan catch up to her, her brother slinging a comforting arm around her shoulders.

And that was the tale of the date that was supposed to be oh-so-great…

---------

Oh…my…gosh!

I'm so sorry for not updating this sooner! Wow…where has the time gone…

I hope at least some of you didn't give up on me and are still a little bit interested…::crosses fingers::

Anyway…I would really appreciate it if you review and tell me what you think of this chapter. ^^ I thought it turned out pretty well since my brain forgot almost everything I wrote before, heh…


	10. Determination

**__**

Visible Stranger

X.

Bura padded down the long corridor in her bare feet, though she still wore the outfit she had been wearing throughout her date. She had excused herself from Pan and Trunks who were still talking downstairs. She had said she was tired, not having gotten much sleep the night before, and was ready to call it a day. However, as soon as she got into her room and kicked off her shoes, she didn't feel quite so tired anymore. For some reason, she just _had _to talk to Yamucha.

Reaching his room in record time, she knocked on his door three times, letting herself in before he could get out the phrase of "come in".

She saw that he was busy folding some of his clothes and setting them on top of the wooden dresser. After seeing it was Bura at the door, he closed his top drawer a little and abandoned whatever he was doing, "Bura…hey. How did the date go?"

"I…" she began, but then stopped abruptly. She pushed on the door enough where it closed behind her, walking over to his bed but not sitting down. Her expression changed from harsh, to flustered, to exhausted, "I don't know, Yamucha…I feel really confused."

"Uh-oh…what happened?" he asked immediately, pulling up a chair and putting it next to his bed. He waved his hands, silently telling her to sit down. She obliged, her hands held firmly in her lap.

"He kissed me," Bura stated abruptly and simply.

Yamucha looked taken aback, his eyes widening a little, "Goten kissed you?" He saw her nod, "Bura, that's great that—."

"No, it isn't!" Bura yelled, her hands going to her sides to grip the bed sheets underneath her. Her eyes glared at him intensely, but she wasn't mad at _him_. Feeling all the more frustrated, she stood up from the bed hastily and walked quickly over to the dresser mirror. She looked into it only for a second before turning back around, not being able to stand looking at herself at the moment.

Yamucha watched her very closely; knowing an outburst was about to come at any second, "It…isn't?"

"No!" she screamed again, turning away from him again, only to turn right back. Her hair had a hard time following her movements, for it flew every which way, every once in awhile gliding over her face and bouncing softly on her shoulders.

"Umm…mind if I inquire as to why? He wasn't as good a kisser as you expected him to be?" He asked, smirking a little bit.

Bura couldn't help but feel a small tug at the corner of her lips, but she quickly made it go away to put on a scowl again, "I don't think it was that. It just…wasn't what I expected at all." Not knowing what else to do, she took her seat back on the bed.

"Really now? Do explain," Yamucha leaned forward in his seat, his hands resting over his knees.

Bura sighed, trying to find the best words on how to explain it, "It wasn't…magical," hating how horrible that sounded, her face scrunched up and she shook her head. "As in…we were just sitting there watching the movie where someone was about to die…and he turned my face towards him and kissed me. It was a simple kiss, but it had depth to it…"

"Uh-huh," Yamucha said, telling her he understood so far and for her to go on.

"And while he was kissing me…I heard everything that was happening in the movie…I heard Pan, I heard Trunks, I heard the audience…my mind was so clear I could even hear and feel Goten breathing through his nose!"

Not being able to help it, Yamucha let out a small laugh. He stopped abruptly, however, when he saw the stern look Bura was giving him. Clearing his throat, he sat back in his chair, "I see what you're saying. You wanted everything and everyone else to disappear when he kissed you. Like it was only the two of you together in the middle of nowhere."

Bura pointed at him, her eyes sparkling, "Exactly! And it was _far _from that…and I was so confused afterwards! I didn't know why I was feeling like I was feeling. It just felt like…" Bura turned her head away, her heart thumping harder at what she was about to say, "it felt like the kiss was meaningless. Like I was kissed by a boy that had no meaning to me."

They both went silent. Bura continued to glare at the floor, Yamucha continuing to stare at her. Finally, after some time, Yamucha sighed and stood up from his chair to sit next to Bura on the bed. He put a comforting arm around her back, rubbing his hand up and down her arm, "That happens sometimes. You think the world of someone and then when you finally get a shot, it's all blown away."

At first, Bura tensed when Yamucha sat next to her, but quickly relaxed into his embrace. Turning her head to face him, her eyes were full of hope, "That's supposed to happen?"

He nodded, "A lot of times, yes. That's why they call them crushes. Whether you want to admit it or not Bura…as far as what I can tell, you no more than had a crush on Goten. You thought it would be wonderful to be with him, but once you had the chance, it's not at all like what you expected."

She thought about it for a moment, "I guess that makes sense…" she paused and pulled herself a way from him a little to get a better view of him, "It's all your fault, ya know?"

"What?" Yamucha blinked twice, "My fault? How do you figure?"

Bura simply grinned at him and shook her head. A small blush came to her cheeks, but she tried to ignore it as she glanced at his dresser that had a lot of his clothes on top, "So what were you doing?"

Yamucha looked to where her eyes were, "Oh, that…well, I was just packing."

"Packing?" she asked quickly, her eyes immediately going back to him, "Why would you be packing?"

"Well, I over-welcomed my stay here and I figured it was about time for me to take my leave again," He nodded as if agreeing with himself, "Yep, time for me to get back to my old way of life again."

Feeling her whole face flush quickly, her mind began to feel a little dizzy. She couldn't tell if her heartbeat began beating quickly or slowed down tremendously. Her stomach twisted in an uncomfortable and tight knot, the rest of her body feeling like jello.

"You're…what?" she asked weakly, hoping she only heard wrong.

"Leaving," he repeated simply, "Either tomorrow night or Sunday morning. I was thinking Sunday would be a little better because of the traffic, but if I don't want to hit any at all, I might hold it off until Monday when—."

"You can't go," she interrupted him, her eyes seeming a bit vacant. Snapping herself out of it quickly, Bura gazed at him, "You can't go!"

He stared at her in shock, "I…can't?"

"No!" Bura tried her best to speak more, little sounds coming out every time she opened her mouth, but really…she didn't know what to say. And if she allowed herself to be free and say whatever came to mind first, she was afraid of what would come out. So instead, she threw her arms around his neck and held him closely with the strength she had, "Yamucha, you can't leave yet…" she hid her face in the crook of his neck, "You can't leave me."

Needless to say, Yamucha's eyes were twice their size. His arms were eagle spread, his eyes only being able to see a mass of blue hair next to him. What did she mean by that? Sure, he guessed he had helped her out with her problem with Goten a little, but it was nothing to over-react like she was. He suddenly felt her body stiffen and her eyes clamp shut against his neck.

Becoming worried, he quickly wrapped his arms around her waist, his one hand staying at her lower back while the other traveled up and stroked through her hair. Softly, he began speaking; "Hey…Bura, what's up?"

She tried to hold it back, but in the end, she couldn't help but give a loud sniff, "You can't leave," she repeated again.

"Yeah, but…" he tried to push her away a little to see her face, but that only made her grip him tighter, "why?"

"Because! You just…" She pulled away a little and hid her eyes on his shoulder now, "you just can't. You…I…it's just…" sighing, she sucked in a deep breath and pulled away from more. She stopped when her face was right in front of his, her eyes coming in contact with his own. Bura blushed from this and looked down, resting her forehead to his. Before she knew what she was doing, she felt her lips lightly brush over his own. She felt him tense beneath her.

"You shouldn't be so tense," she said lowly, her lips still touching his as she spoke, "you should try going with the flow." She kissed him again.

Bura spoke as though she were now the one teaching him what to do, instead of what she originally went to him for. He began to relax a little bit, but still not as much as she wanted. Pulling away just enough to speak again, she smirked against his lips.

"This is the kind of kiss I was talking about…where my mind's so fuzzy," she kissed him, "it's hard to know what's real and what's not," she pressed her lips to his again, hearing him give a low moan within the lock. Her hand happened to brush across his long hair, running its silkiness through her fingers, "I don't want you to leave."

Finally getting up enough strength and courage, Yamucha pulled away and sucked in a deep breath of well-needed air. His eyes roamed down to the girl in front of him, seeing how glazed and passionate her eyes were as they stared at his lips. However, once her eyes glanced up into his own, they became big and curious.

Yamucha swallowed the lump in his throat roughly, suddenly feeling very taken away by her beauty. He shook his head slightly. No…that was definitely not the way to be thinking right now. But as he saw her bring her face closer to his once more, he couldn't find anything within him that wanted to pull away from her. And so, once again, they were lip-locked.

She felt his hands tug gently on her hair, entangling his fingers within her strands. Bura's hands ran in between their body, pressing her palms against his chest and his abdomen, feeling his muscles that he managed to keep after years of training.

They pulled away from each other again, sucking in large amounts of air. Without wasting a precious second, Bura leaned in again, this timing going for the side of his mouth, sliding her kisses over to his jawbone, then to slightly under his chin, then placing kiss after kiss on his neck. All the while, Yamucha kept his eyes tightly closed, his breathing coming out a bit raggedly after having been holding his breath for some time.

"B-Bura…" he finally managed to speak, but heard no response from her as she continued to love his neck, "this is…this is wrong. We have to—."

"If this is wrong, I don't want to be right," she said in a whisper, her delicate hand sliding up his back and landing on the back of his neck to rub back and forth. She moved back up to kiss his bottom lip, biting it lightly.

"Good concept," he responded, then resting his hands on her bare shoulders to press her to him now. Bura quickly got over her surprise and decided to enjoy it and relax, letting him do some of the work now.

She shifted her position on the bed, making her short black dress ride a little higher up her thigh than what she, at the moment, felt comfortable with. It was her turn to pull away now, hoping Yamucha wouldn't take too much notice of the inconspicuous way she pulled the bottom of her dress down so it wouldn't show so much. To her luck, the guy still looked dazed and confused.

"Yamucha…"

Hearing his name, he snapped out of his daydream and looked down at her. He gave her a smile, reaching forward with his hand to push some strands of her hair behind her ear, "Yeah?"

Bura bit her bottom lip again, but was determined to not look away from him, "If you don't stay here…let me come with you."

Once again, his eyes widened. His hands gripped onto her upper arms, "Bura? I-I don't think you really want to do that. I mean—."

"Why?" her eyes narrowed, sparks and fire shooting off within her orbs, "Don't you want me to?"

"N-no!" Yamucha came to his defense quickly, thrusting Bura to him to wrap her up in a tight embrace, "It's not that at all," he pulled her back again to look into her eyes, "I would—love—to have you stay with me, but—."

She shook her head, her eyes set with determination, "But nothing! I'm eighteen, I can do what I want, so don't worry about my parents. Not only that, I know what I want…and I feel something with you that I never felt with Goten."

Yamucha was almost afraid to ask, yet at the same time, he wanted to hear it, "What's that?"

"Love." Bura said simply. She gave him a genuine smile and reached up to run her finger gently across the scar on his left cheek. She then giggled, "And I know it sounds really corny, but…really, like you said, what I felt for Goten was just a crush. And now that I saw how both look, I _know _this is real!"

Sucking in a deep breath, he felt his heart skip a beat, "…love?"

She nodded, "The time we spent together has been one of the best times of my life, and I'm not afraid to say that…I love you."

He stared at her for a moment in bewilderment before closing his eyes and shaking his head. Quickly, he stood from the bed and walked over to his dresser, pressing his palms flat against the top, "Bura, I was done with love along time ago…"

"Don't say that!" she scolded, getting up and walking over to him. She stood to his side slightly, looking at the side of his face before resting her cheek against his arm, "Everyone deserves a second chance at love…and that includes you, too. Don't you…love me, too?" Bura gripped his lower arm tightly.

Yamucha looked up after having been staring down at his feet. His eyes met with their twins when he looked into the mirror. He saw how young and innocent Bura looked beside him, but also how passionate and determined she was. He wanted to say yes…he wanted to tell her the truth…but there was just too much on the line.

"Bura…I'm so much older than you, you—."

"Age is just a number," she interrupted quickly, knowing he was going to mention the age difference sometime. She looked up at him again, "Do you love me?" she asked again.

"Your parents won't like it at all if—."

"They'll get over it," Bura once again cut in. "They may not approve of it for awhile, but I know they'll have to come around sometime. They can be stubborn, but I can be just as stubborn."

He paused. What else was there that could keep him and Bura apart? In the back of his mind, he was sure there was a million of other things, but for some reason, he didn't want to think about those deductions. Pushing himself away from the dresser, he turned towards her, his hands resting on her hips. She stared up at him with so much hope and trust that he couldn't help but smile for her, "Yes."

A smile lit up her face the second he said that. She knew was that yes meant…it meant…

"I do love you, Bura." And letting her have a good reason to be speechless, he leaned down to once again capture her lips with his own.

**********

Out in the hallway, Pan and Trunks had their ears pressed firmly against Yamucha's door. They listened intensely to their whole conversation, just waiting for Bura to burst out of the bedroom. However, once time went on, they noticed how it got more in-depth. Trunks was mostly in shock he was hearing it all, whereas Pan just looked completely and utterly pissed.

"I do love you, Bura."

Pan's eyes widened more as she opened her mouth to scream something before she burst into the room, but was surprised when she felt Trunks' hand close over her mouth. She moaned a few times as she began getting dragged down the hallway by him.

"Come on, Pan, don't ruin this for her," he whispered even once they got twenty feet away from the room. He continued to walk down the corridor where all the other rooms were, only then letting Pan go free.

She let deep breaths in and out once he let her go, glaring up at him, "Trunks, don't you totally disagree with everything we just heard?!"

Trunks only sighed and walked into his bedroom, "Bura's a big girl, she can do what she wants." He plopped himself down on his bed, his arms behind his head and his one knee folded up. 

Of course, Pan followed him in, rage still radiating off of her, "But that means you disagree with her, then! I'm glad I'm not the only one that finds that idea _completely _crazy!" Pan walked over to his bed and glared down at him, "I say we tell your parents."

Trunks rolled his eyes, "Pan, calm down, seriously. You're actually turning it into a bigger deal than what it should be. If you act upset, you're only going to persuade my parents more to go against Bura and Yamucha…and then Bura will once again be very upset and inclusively pissed off at you."

Pan's eyes dulled, her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh, "I guess you're right…I guess I just never expected her to end up with _him, _no matter how much I teased her about it."

She glanced to Trunks and seeing him smirk made her smirk.

"But I know that Vejiita won't be happy _at all _with this arrangement…"

--------

Hello everyone. I noticed that I didn't get too many reviews for my last chapter…kinda expected that though. But of course, I wasn't about to leave you faithful readers out there hanging again, so here ya go. Also, since so many people lost interest, I'm gonna end this story sooner than expected. As you can tell, a lot was done in this chapter and I might put up about two more and then…The End! But this story was nice while it lasted. ^^


	11. Almost Happy

**__**

Visible Stranger

XI.

Bura and Yamucha hardly wasted any time in holding off the inevitable. They figured they might as well tell Buruma and Vejiita about their little arrangement the night they decided on it, instead of waiting until the next morning. They didn't feel like sleeping on it and then losing their nerve when it came down to the final showdown.

But they found just stepping out of Yamucha's room a big step. It's amazing how one space could make you feel powerful and indestructible, but once you left that area, harsh reality sunk it.

Sure, Bura did say that her parents would eventually accept their relationship, but actually thinking about confronting them seemed to be a different story entirely. And it wasn't so much her mother that she was worried about…she knew she was a sucker for romance, no matter what.

Her father on the other hand…

Well, let's just say it didn't look as promising as she wanted to hope for. Alas, there was no turning back now. She put on a brave smile for Yamucha and squeezed his hand for comfort. Bura was determined to be with Yamucha, no matter what kind of tantrum her father decided to throw. She hated to do it, but if Vejiita didn't give them his blessing, she would have to choose one over the other.

As the saying goes, "blood is thicker than water," but Bura desperately wanted someone to love and to love her. Though she was still at the ripe young age of eighteen, she longed for the romance she sometimes thought was always out of her reach.

Almost as though they were moving through a haze, they slowly walked down the hall, knowing that the top of the stairs would soon appear and they would, most likely, hear Buruma's and Vejiita's voices on the bottom floor.

They descended, both trying desperately to think of something to say to the other, just to lighten up the mood. They figured it would be better to appear natural and happy, but that was almost impossible to do when you thought your life was about to end within the next five minutes.

Once they reached the bottom, they heard Bura's parents in the living room. Looking up to him, she put on a tight smile and squeezed his hand again, before letting go. She was prepared to enter the room first.

When she spotted them, she saw that they were having one of their once-in-a-blue-moon moments. Vejiita was sitting up on the far end, Buruma resting her head on his shoulder and her legs reposed on the cushions. They were talking lowly to each other; probably nothing too much, Bura thought, just going over the day like couples sometimes do.

Clearing her throat lowly, she hated to break their moment, but knew she couldn't wait any longer. She stepped up to the end of the couch, rocking on her heels slightly with her fingers running over the soft fabric on the armrest.

"Mom…Dad," she began, her eyes staring back into their own when they looked up at her.

"What is it, dear?" Buruma asked, smiling up at her daughter but not moving from her position.

"I, umm…" she paused and looked over her shoulder towards the kitchen, seeing Yamucha lingering in the corner. She was sure he wanted to wait there until it was safe to come out. No use letting out the truth and having Vejiita act on instinct and send a ki ball his way. Bura didn't continue for some time, heavily debating on whether to change "I" to "we", thinking that maybe she should bring Yamucha into the picture as soon as possible.

"Well, get on with it!" Vejiita snapped, his eyes narrowing, obviously telling her to just spit out what she had to say or leave.

Sighing, her eyes, shiner than ever, turned back to them, "I have something to tell you."

Vejiita mumbled under his breath, "Of course, why else would you just stand there," he stopped when he felt Buruma elbow him in the stomach.

"Tell us what?" Buruma inquired, ignoring the impatience radiating off Vejiita. She folded her hands in her lap and waited for her to go on.

Bura closed her eyes. This shouldn't be this hard! She tried to reason with herself; she never had problems telling her parents of all the things she did or was going to do, in the past. There was no use in starting now. She knew her father wouldn't harm Yamucha…for if he did, she would have to break it to him that he had lost his daughter forever.

She snapped her eyes open, a bright fire burning in her watery depths, "You want me to be happy, right?"

As Vejiita continued to glare at her for beating around the bush, Buruma blinked a couple times. Finally, she sat up away from Vejiita and put her feet to the floor. She patted the seat beside her, silently telling Bura to sit down.

Shaking her head, she asked again, "You want me to be happy, right?"

"Aren't you happy now?" Vejiita interrogated, making that his way of saying yes.

Gathering up all her pride and courage, she sucked in a deep breath and put her hands to her hips firmly, "Yes, I am, because I've found the man I want to be with."

"Oh!" Buruma exclaimed, clasping her hands together in delight. She stood from the couch and walked to her daughter, grabbing her hands into hers. Her eyes sparkled with delight, a new refreshing look seemingly brightening her face. Ignoring the look of surprise she received, she said, "I am so happy for you, Bura. Its about time you told Goten-kun you're feelings." Her smile widened, "And I just knew he would return those feelings."

"What!" Vejiita suddenly exclaimed, getting to his feet immediately, "You're with Kakarotto's son!"

They both quickly overwhelmed her, Buruma talking in one ear about how excited she was for her, and Vejiita yelling in the other about how it was a disgrace.

Finally, she couldn't take it anymore. Squeezing her eyes shut to ward off the upcoming headache, she screamed while she pulled her hands out of her mother's to clench her fists, "It is _not _Goten!"

"Not Goten?" they both questioned at once. Bura saw how shocked they both were, but she couldn't blame them, considering Goten was the one she had been doting after for umpteen years. And all of a sudden she comes up with another guy. They were both so curious, she had to laugh to herself when she imagined illusory question marks popping up all around their heads.

She calmed herself down, "No…it's not Goten."

She had to raise an eyebrow when she realized how pleased that made Vejiita, "That's great…I knew you would come to your senses one day."

Flashing him a glare before she turned back to Bura, Buruma tried to put a smile on again, "Well, if it's not Goten…then who is it?"

Bura froze. Her eyes wandered back and forth, seeing how expectant they were for her to not disappoint them. Of course, she knew her father would be upset that it would be a human, because…well, if she wasn't with Goten, who else was there? She began getting so lost in her thoughts, she didn't even realize the clock ticking away.

She opened her mouth…

"Here's your culprit!"

Bura and Buruma jumped when they suddenly heard Pan's voice, looking towards the kitchen doorway, Vejiita turning to see what was going on also. What Bura saw made her jaw drop. There were Pan and Trunks, each holding on to one of Yamucha's arms and dragging him into the living room. It seemed that the older man was trying to fight them off, but to no avail. Eventually, he just gave up and walked in as calmly as possible. His face was slightly red from embarrassment.

"What!" Buruma cried out, her eyes widening as she stared at two mischievous faces and one reluctant face. She raised an eyebrow dubiously, looking from them, to Vejiita to see what he thought (only to see he looked almost as confused as she), to Bura. "What are they talking about?"

If looks could cause endless suffering, Pan and Trunks would sure be in trouble. Bura glared at them, her eyes full of venom, only seeming to get angrier when they stood there smiling…looking oh-so-innocent.

"Whoa, Bura, calm down," Pan said, releasing Yamucha's arm and holding her hands up, "don't get your hair all in a ruffle. We're here to help."

Trunks laughed at Pan's joke and went over to his sister, patting her on the back, "Yeah, we had a feeling that you might need some backup."

She felt that headache coming on again. Actually, she felt as though her whole head was about to explode. She held her breath for some time, her face turning red from the heat. Closing her eyes, she tried to relax by counting to ten. It worked; that is, up until number six.

"Please, don't say…" Buruma started off.

"That the man…" Vejiita continued.

"She wants…"

"To be with…"

"Is…"

"_You!_" Vejiita screamed suddenly, pointing an accused finger at Yamucha.

Yamucha snapped his head up quickly when Vejiita addressed him, a quick look of fear flashing through his eyes. He took one step back as Vejiita marched over to him, noticing how the Saiya-jin's fists locked closed in a death grip.

"Don't get too worked up, Tousan," Trunks warned, stepping in his path. Pan followed suit, both of them protecting the free entryway to Yamucha's demise.

However, all Vejiita had to do was flash them one look and they gladly sidestepped, sweat dropping slightly. He didn't even smirk from his trustful interrogation, setting his cold eyes on the human.

"No way is…"

"Stop it!" Bura screamed, her turn to step in front of her father. Even when he scowled at her, she didn't back down; she simply mocked the sneer perfectly. She stood up straight and was glad she was pretty much eye-level with him, "If you do _anything _to him, I will _never _speak to you _again_!"

The outburst startled him, looking at his daughter indifferently. The urge to kill Yamucha was pumping strongly through his blood, but the threat of losing Bura made his heart skip a beat.

"Surely you can't be serious!" Vejiita looked back at Buruma, growing angry again when he saw her just standing there. "Hey! She won't listen to me, that's for sure. Why don't you try putting some sense into her?"

Buruma had been looking down at the carpet, her eyes lowered in an oppressive façade. When she heard Vejiita address her, she slowly looked up, her gaze sliding past him and landing on Bura.

"Mom…" Bura began, relaxing a little when she saw that her mother wasn't going to thrash her out instantly. She walked to Yamucha and took his hand bravely, ignoring the rise of anger coming from her father, "I know it may be a little hard to believe, but…I _do _want to be with Yamucha. He…he makes me feel free, like I don't have to pretend to be someone I'm not. He likes me the way I am and…"

As the young woman lingered off, it seemed the whole room held their breath, waiting for her to finish the sentence. Off to the side, Pan was pushing her arms against the air, acting as though she were pushing Bura to declare her final statement. She sighed and turned around to hide her anticipation when she saw she couldn't catch Bura's eye.

Then finally, "And I love him for that."

Bura wasn't sure if the tension had been released or had built-up tenfold. She felt better when Yamucha gripped onto her hand tightly. But before she knew it, he was ripped from her hold and thrown back. Her eyes widened when she turned around to see that Vejiita held tightly onto Yamucha's collar, pressing him firmly against the wall.

"No!" Bura protested, running over and grabbing hold of his muscular arm that held Yamucha in place.

Vejiita ignored her and, despite the fact that he had to look up about four inches to look Yamucha in the eye, the Saiya-jin wasn't intimidated.

"How dare you come into my home and think you can just—."

Boldly, Yamucha interrupted him and stared down at the stronger man, "Vejiita, there's no reason to do this!"

Vejiita pressed tighter to his throat, a small crack splitting off from the side of the wall due to the pressure. Yamucha clenched his eyes closed, trying his best to ignore the pain and discomfort.

"Bura said she loved me," he choked out, only to be rewarded with more constraint. He groaned lowly before slowly opening one eye to look down to him, "And I love her."

Despite the predicament, Bura smiled at his comment and looked back to Vejiita to see if he would now release his prisoner. To her surprise (or maybe not), he only seemed to get more irritated. His free arm began to fold back, into the position that suggested he was getting ready to give a punch.

Her eyes widened. She grabbed onto his arm tighter and tried to pull him away, grateful when Pan and Trunks helped. With all three of them pulling as hard as they could, they did manage to drag Vejiita a few feet away from Yamucha. Yamucha dropped his chin quickly, bringing a hand up to his throat when he knew there would be some bruises later.

Bura stood in front of him when Vejiita began to come forth again. She put her hands on her hips again, glaring, but with tears shining her eyes this time, "I guess I really don't mean that much to you then, do I!"

He stopped quickly and turned his attention to the upset girl.

"If you want me to be happy, then let me be happy! _He_," she pointed back at Yamucha, "makes me happy! I warned you that if you hurt him, I would never speak to you again! And look what you go and do!" Bura emphasized by throwing her arms out to the sides. A few tears of frustration ran down her cheeks.

She tried to calm herself down so she wouldn't say anything she would regret, "I can't tell you to not be mad. But it hurts when you go against something I want so much. And I'm _not_ just going to stand around and watch as you ruin my happiness!"

"Yeah, you tell him, girl!" Pan yelled, pumping her fist into the air. All the excitement was really getting to her.

Thankfully, everyone basically ignored her. Bura continued, "If you don't appreciate what Yamucha does for me…than how am I supposed to appreciate _you_?"

This time, it was Vejiita's turn to widen his eyes. His mouth gaped open slightly. He knew she always looked up to him, admired him for his strength and will power. She looked for those qualities in both her parents. He wasn't quite sure how she did it, but she was the one that broke down the last of his barriers and made him learn how to fully love and take care of a family.

And there she was, warning him that he was beginning to throw all that away. He was sure she would hold up to her threats if he made one wrong move. Slowly, he turned back to look at Buruma, noticing the gaze of veneration she gave to Bura. He then turned to Pan, seeing her fists clenched in front of her chest, her eyes full of excitement as she waited for his response. Towards Trunks, he noticed just a small smile.

Everyone was expecting him to give in just like that!

His temper was getting the better of him, he felt. Quickly, for he didn't trust himself at the moment, he pivoted and walked out of the room, mumbling back a, "Whatever…" on the way.

Everyone stood frozen in place for a long moment as they tried to comprehend what had just happened.

Pan was the one that broke the spell, "Is that a good sign?"

Trunks nodded, "I'm pretty sure. If he didn't kill Yamucha now, he's not going to do it."

"Makes me feel better…" Yamucha grumbled bitterly, still rubbing his sore throat.

"Bura…" Buruma began, taking a few steps towards her. She opened her mouth to say more, but simply let out a breath and looked away, "I better go check on your father."

And with that, she left the room, also.

Bura sighed and subconsciously turned to wrap her arms around Yamucha, holding him close and burying her face in his chest. She relaxed some when she felt his arms come around her, too, holding her tightly to him.

"It's a start…" Bura murmured, turning her head to the side so she could speak to everyone clearly, "I kind of had a feeling that they wouldn't accept it right away. But it makes me feel a lot better to know that they're gonna try, for my benefit."

Trunks smiled with sympathy, "Yeah, you know they'll come around eventually. I think right now they're mostly in shock," he chuckled, "I'm sure Yamucha was one of the last ones they expected for you."

"No doubt," Pan spoke up, going right up to Bura's face, ignoring the fact that she was being held, "So what are you gonna do now?"

Bura let out a breath and slowly backed away from Yamucha. She reached up and brushed back a few pieces of stray hair, "Well…Yamucha and I might go back to his place sometime tomorrow or the day after." She looked up at him for confirmation.

He looked down at her, rubbing her arm soothingly, "You sure you want to do that?"

She blinked, but quickly nodded her head, "Yes, I think that's the best thing to do right now. My parents will accept it quicker when they see how serious I am." Bura grabbed his hand and began out of the room, "Let's go back upstairs. I don't feel like hanging around down here right now."

"Sure," Yamucha agreed.

Pan and Trunks lingered in the living room for a few minutes after they had retreated, only then turning towards each other. They somehow how this uncanny ability to think the same thing at the exact same time. Evil grins curved their lips.

llllllllllllllllllll

Bura had followed Yamucha down to his room again, closing the door lightly behind her when they entered. She sighed again, leaving Yamucha to quickly wrap her up in his arms again.

"You okay?" he asked, his hand stroking through her hair. She had put her head to his chest again, but he lifted her chin with his finger, making her look at him. She saw the seriousness in his gaze, "Tell me the truth."

Her lips quivered for a moment, but she quickly stopped it and held back the shine in her eyes, "I'll be fine. I just don't want my parents mad at me…"

Yamucha tried his best to smile for her, running his finger delicately over her cheek, "Hey, like you said, they'll get used to it eventually. I know they won't be able to stand not talking to you for any longer than a week. You'll see," he assured her, "you'll be speaking to them again in no time."

Hearing him say this with such confidence put a genuine smile to her lips, her body relaxing in his arms, "You're right. And as long as you're there with me…"

He nodded, seeing as how they were starting to finish each other's sentences, "Everything will be fine."

Smiling into each other's eyes, Yamucha began to lean down and Bura stood on her tiptoes. She rested her hands on his shoulders to bring him closer as their lips met. It started out as a simple kiss, soon getting harder and longer.

They broke away quickly, however, when a loud bang was heard. She turned around to see that the door had flung open, Pan and Trunks lying on the floor. An indication that they had been pressing themselves up against the door to listen in on them.

She put her hands on her hips and glared down at them, a glistening twinkle in her eyes, however. She heard Yamucha chuckle behind her and found the "innocent" faces of her best friend and brother quite amusing.

Bura gave her infamous smirk that she had inherited from Vejiita, "Any last words?"

Trunks and Pan turned to each other and flashed "cute" smiles. They turned their heads back up to the couple.

"Learn how to lock doors?"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Well…it's finally over. Yep, that's it everyone! I'm sorry it took my this long to finally finish it, but…hey, at least I did it right? It's not too often I stick with it all the way.

I want to thank all my reviewers to actually giving me the motivation to keep writing this! You guys are great.

Thanks for reading! And though it dropped down a bit from a year ago…

Yamcha and Bra forever!


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